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The Culture of Joy 



WORKS OF 

REV. ORA LEE PRIDE 

THE NURTURE OF THE CHILD 
12mo, Cloth, §1. 50 net. 

THE CULTURE OF JOY 

12mo, Cloth, $1.50 net. 

THE MASTER PASSION; THE PASSION FOR 

SOULS 

16mo, Cloth, 50 cents net. 



The Culture of Joy 



By 
REV. ORA LEE PRIDE, M. A., B. D. 

Author of " The Nurture of the Child," " The 
Master Passion," Etc. 



* 



CINCINNATI 
JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 



BV4SH 



Copyright, 19 12, 
By Ora Lee Pride 



gCI.A319543 



TO THOSE WHEREVER FOUND IN 

WHOM THESE WORDS AWAKEN 

DEEPER JOY. 



CicrcXOc els rrjv ^apav rov Kvptov crov. 

—Matt. 25: 21. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

I. The Nature of Joy, 11 

II. The Value of Joy, 37 

III. The Ministry of Joy, ■. .... 57 

IV. The Ground Elements of Joy, . 75 
V. Happiness and Joy, 91 

VI. Religion and Joy, ...... 115 

VII. The Exceeding Joy, 139 

VIII. The Nurture of Joy, .... 157 

IX. The Fruit of Joy, 183 

X. Joy in Christ, ....... 201 

XI. Joy in the Holy Ghost, .... 221 

XII. Joy and the Complete Life, . . 239 

XIII. Joy and Service, 255 

XIV. Joy and Peace, 267 

XV. "That Your Joy May Be Full," 283 
3 



PREFACE 

There seems to be a clear and distinct call 
to go into the matter of the joy coming to 
us from God through our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ. It ought be manifest that if 
there is a joy coming to us it ought be better 
known. I had found the joy of Christ sweet 
and refreshing to my own heart and felt that 
I might be able to speak through the printed 
page some words which would help some 
other person into the joy and fellowship of 
Christ. 

It is perfectly evident that many people 
keep their eyes upon the rim of religious ex- 
perience rather than at its center. We make 
quite much of delight and pleasure and hap- 
piness and feelings of a trivial nature, taking 
it for granted that these form the kernel of 
the Christian life. These are as the husks 
that the swine did eat rather than being 
served at our Father's table. 



PREFACE 

There is no deeper experience of the 
human soul than that which comes with joy. 
It is as deep as life itself. And the work 
found in this book is the result of trying to 
find the permanent elements of religion. 

There has been no attempt to put the sen- 
tences in terms with which the scholar is alone 
familiar, but the rather to state the meanings 
in the simplest language. Since the work is 
written to help the hearts of Christians into 
a more perfect frame of mind and heart, the 
only language that could be used would be 
that all would understand. The critical era 
has passed away and we are in the construc- 
tive period. That reason alone would be suf- 
ficient demand to make clearness of diction 
preferable to any other form of expression. 

The aim has been to make the way of 
Christ a preferred Way: to let it be clearly 
stated that Jesus Christ means "More than 
life to me" here. Heaven is a great way off, 
apparently, to most of us; the present-day 
life is more apparent than is "the sun-kissed 
land where saints and angels dwell." And 

6 



PREFACE 

while it is grand to sing of "the -realms of 
the blest, where saints immortal dwell," it is 
worth while to consider the meaning of Jesus 
Christ to us in the common, every-day affairs 
of this life. Does Jesus Christ really con- 
cern Himself in our daily welfare? Does 
He help us in our battles against sin and 
our struggles for a Christly character? Is 
He an ever-present Friend to help us to real- 
ize ourselves in this world? Does He enrich 
our hearts in grace and power? Does He 
really give us joy? 

These questions all rightly stir our minds 
and hearts. We do indeed want to know 
whether there is a something which stirs our 
hearts as we, like the two who went the Em- 
maus road, go on our way performing the 
common duties of life. When our hearts 
are stirred, is it from the mental and physical 
make-up of our natures or do our hearts burn 
within us as Jesus Christ talks with us by 
the way? In plain words, does He give us 
joy? Does He flood our souls with that 
most desired of all qualities and make us re- 

7 



PREFACE 

joice in the hope of glory divine? Being 
confidently assured in my own life that Jesus 
Christ means life and hope and peace and 
joy and all things else good, I hope to be 
able to help some one else into the way that 
Paul speaks about of " Rejoice with the Lord 
alway, and again I say, rejoice. " 

Man can rest his all in Christ with entire 
confidence. Try Him, and be assured for 
yourself. Oh, taste and see that the Lord 
is good and that His mercy is over all! 

Ora Lee Pride. 



8 



The Nature of Joy 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

The story is told of a certain king who 
instructed his gardener to plant six trees and 
to place statues beneath each of them rep- 
resenting, respectively, Prosperity, Victory, 
Strength, Duty, Beauty, and Joy. These 
trees were also to represent the king in his 
reign for the good of the people. 

The gardener complied with the command 
of the king and planted the trees in fulfill- 
ment of his orders. On the completion of 
the gardener's task the king proceeded to in- 
spect the trees. Coming to the one repre- 
senting "Joy" he said, "Surely I thought you 
would typify 'Joy' by some flowering plant 
like the tulip or magnolia; how can the 
stately and serious palm represent 'Joy?' " 

"Those trees," said the gardener, u get 
their happiness from manifest and open 
sources. They live in merry forests or or- 
chards, with hosts of friends as comrades; 

ii 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

but I found this palm tree fresh and green 
and happy all alone in a sandy waste. Its 
roots had found the rivulet issuing from 
some hidden spring creeping from its unseen 
source far below the earth's surface. Then, 
thought I, here is the true representation of 
'joy.' The highest joy has both a hidden 
fountain and a concealed rivulet and a foun- 
dation unseen by men, and a source they can 
not comprehend." 

The careful examination of the nature of 
joy demonstrates it to be really possessed of a 
very wonderful nature. Its qualities are such 
that they all the time put us to the limit of 
our ability, either to comprehend their com- 
position or to properly appreciate their 
values. 

Not only is joy composed of very wonder- 
ful elements, but it is a quality that can grow 
in any surroundings and flourish amidst the 
most adverse conditions. Environment and 
circumstances can not wholly curtail either 
its flower or its fruit. It seeks neither favor 
nor appreciation. It courts alone the higher 

12 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

associations, and the dissemination" of the 
strong, beautiful, the good and graceful. 

The abode of joy is likewise a marvel to 
all who have some acquaintance with it. 
While kings may pine and die from lack of 
joy, peasants may be so full of its exuberance 
that they cry from the depths of their hearts 
in the exceeding greatness of its delights. 

The rich may be willing to give any part 
of their wealth to get even a small amount 
of joy and can not find the sh'ghtest trace of 
its hiding, while the poor cottager may have 
such a fullness of joy at his very door as 
to excite the greatest admiration from men 
of prominence and distinction. 

The cultured may be wasting away for 
only a glimpse, only a faint shadow of joy, 
while the ignorant and unlearned may be so 
possessed of the fullness and richness of joy 
as to be wholly enraptured in this highly 
prized possession. 

It then is perfectly evident that the pos- 
session of joy depends upon elements of more 
than a passing moment. The exercising of 

13 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

its rich grace and the securing of added joy 
depends upon more than the possession of 
either any material thing or earthly acquire- 
ment. 

Other conditions than are usually supposed 
to be those which unerringly bring joy must 
be considered. In this supposition we are 
manifestly right. The securing of joy does 
not come as a resultant from any material 
propaganda. The conditions for the possess- 
ing of joy are not found as the result of 
possessing any earthly treasure. Its lineage 
is traced through a far nobler ancestral line. 
Its veins are coursed by noble blood. 

The securing of and becoming richer in joy 
is a condition arising from "being," from 
"character," from the filling full of the true 
measure of life. There is no self which can 
command the situation save that of the high- 
est self. 

Joy does not come from what we have, 
but from what we are. The "rich man" of 
the Bible thought the securing of joy was in 
the pulling down his already full barns and 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

building greater ones, but the Lord said, 
"Thou fool; this night thy soul shall be re- 
quired of thee; then whose shall these be?" 
This sad mistake has been made through all 
the centuries of time. Men suppose that all 
they have to do to get more happiness and 
pleasure out of life is to get more possessions. 

The Master of all life taught that the gain- 
ing of spiritual attainments was the one in- 
fallible means to the attaining of joy, and 
by this means was the gaining of the fullest 
joy. "These things," meaning those abiding 
in Him as He abides in the Father, and those 
acting in the fullest obedience to the divine 
will, "have I spoken unto you, that My joy 
might remain in you, and that your joy might 
be full." 

Saint Paul was the spokesman of Jesus, and 
he said, "Seek earnestly the best gift; yet 
show I unto you a more excellent way." 
Pleasing it is to every sensibility of man that 
Christ gave undivided attention to the things 
of the Spirit. 

Jesus was not of this world. His King- 

15 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

dom was from above. His Kingdom is above 
all others. And we have His promise that 
if we place our lives in the loving service of 
His Kingdom that we shall have all added 
gifts needed for both earth and heaven. 
"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His 
righteousness, and all these things shall be 
added unto you." When the conditions of 
the spiritual life are met there can not but 
be joy, for then the flood gates of heaven 
are opened. 

The coming of the Queen of Sheba to the 
court of King Solomon was primarily a mis- 
sion for the attainment of wisdom ; yet it was 
likewise an errand for inquiring into the way 
of the fuller joy. She had heard of the wise 
one, and thought that certainly he could en- 
lighten her mind and heart upon the great 
fundamentals of the joyous life. Peace of 
mind was moire to her than full coffers of 
the choicest treasures. This is evident from 
the rich gifts she gave to the king and his 
courtiers. 

The good queen did not have her soul free 
16 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

from the distresses of this present- life; her 
heart had much grief mixed with her cup of 
joy. Her vessel of sorrow was full, and sad- 
ness overflowed her mind. Queen though 
she was, the glimmer of the opening spring 
of a brighter hope impelled her on through 
"moor and fen" until she came to this for- 
eign "court," expecting some composure of 
life hitherto unknown. 

"So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will 

lead me on, 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the 

night is gone." 

The Queen of Sheba, as have many others 
of varying importance in the world's history, 
thought that joy comes with principalities and 
powers, to kings and queens, to those who sit 
in splendor amid great pomp. But alas ! how 
soon and how sadly they are disappointed. 
Those so thinking have always paid an awful 
price for their mistake. 

A very great many think that joy is found 
in the palaces of kings and the mansions of 
the great. To say that this delusion is yet 

n 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

prevalent is to express a well-known, yet lam- 
entable fact. And neither is it held by any 
class of people alone. People of all cultures 
and positions are alike deluded by the flash- 
lights of this world. 

Joy may abide in the mansion just as well 
as in the hovel; but it may be found in the 
meanest hut just as truly as in the most gor- 
geous palace. The lowly cottager may have 
as fine a plant of joy at his door as can the 
dweller in the most luxurious abode ever con- 
structed. Plants ask not at whose doors they 
grow; and neither does joy. 

Flowers are not concerned whether the one 
who plants and cares for them is rich or poor, 
skilled or unskilled, wise or ignorant, white 
or black. Being rich or grand or cultured 
makes no difference; but it does make a dif- 
ference as to the richness of the soil, the quan- 
tity of sunlight, the amount of moisture and 
like conditions. These they do demand for 
the finest growth. 

Joy does require a proper condition of the 
heart. It deals with the eternal verities of 

18 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

the life itself. It has no dependence on the 
opening and shutting of doors, the ebb and 
flow of tides, the condition of the weather, 
the proximity of friends, or any other exter- 
nal condition whatsoever, "We are traveling 
home to God" is a well-known experience of 
the faithful in heart, and that realization ab- 
sorbs all lesser facts. 

Looking at the matter from this angle we 
see great meaning in the words of Saint Paul 
when he said, "Count it all joy when ye fall 
into divers temptations." That man's life is 
best and fullest of joy who thinks best, acts 
the noblest, loves the dearest, serves the most, 
and conforms most correctly to the call of 
the spiritual life. 

On first thought we weep and wail when 
afflictions come. Privations, hardships, per- 
plexities are like so many ghoul specters. 
And were we moored by no more vital thread 
than that of pleasure or happiness, we would 
never realize that "these light afflictions, 
which are but for a moment, work out for 
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight 

19 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

of glory." It is often true that when we are 
caring for the afflictions which come upon us 
that we are entertaining angels unawares. 
We ought to turn our faces toward the sun- 
light and again set ourselves the more vigor- 
ously and joyfully to our labors. 

"Then welcome each rebuff 
That turns earth's smoothness rough ; 
Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand, but go! 
Be our joys three parts pain, 
Strive, and hold cheap the strain! 
Learn, nor account the pang! 
Dare, never grudge the throe." 

— Robert Browning. 

What sometimes seem monsters in the way 
to destroy us are often but kind guide-posts 
pointing us on to the as yet undiscovered 
country where are fountains of the sweetest 
delight and deepest Elysian joy. And this, 
too, a joy of which the world does not know, 
and knowing, it would be unable to possess, 
and possessing, would not appreciate. 

Having the joy of a settled peace coming 
from the conscious relationship with the 
higher and pure forces of life, we have nat- 

20 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

uralness and ease. We can all the .more re- 
joice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 
Even in the midst of the strongest tempta- 
tions, realizing that we have fought and fin- 
ished a hard and fierce engagement, and 
merited a glorious victory, we can have full 
sweetness of joy. 

If a man is anticipating the raising a crop 
of grain, he must make a deposit of the like 
grain in the earth as the seed grain. If he 
is to gain an education, he must deposit his 
days and hours in order that from the deposit 
of his intellect he may come forth as a man 
of education. There must be a seedtime to 
every harvest. There must likewise be a 
losing of some part to get the larger part. 
Nothing in this world is wholly free from ex- 
penditure, but there is at least a little friction 
some place along the line. 

Now, if a man is seeking to have the 
greatest possible joy in his life, he must make 
such a deposit from the accumulation already 
possessed as shall provide sufficient seed to 
the gathering of the desired harvest in his 

21 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

life. He will find it necessary to break up 
his past life that the new life may be formed 
from the material thus acquired. The new 
life must have a firm place of rooting. It 
must have soil. It must have the germs for 
that building commensurate with the structure 
sought. And the higher the superstructure 
the deeper must the foundation first descend. 

Saint Paul had the true conception when 
he said, "What things were gain for me, 
these I counted loss for Christ." "Forget- 
ting the things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those which are before, I press to- 
ward the mark for the prize of the high call- 
ing of God in Christ Jesus." 

Even if there were nothing for which we 
need be born anew, there would still be the 
greatest reason for our being born again. As 
we are we are all selfish, self-centered, filled 
with our own magnanimity, full of vanity, 
and high appreciation of our own splendor; 
we need be broken loose from these ties which 
bind us to lower forms of life, and to have 
placed within us in their stead those true 

22 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

graces of life consistent with the true mag- 
nanimity of spirit and the germs of sanctifica- 
tion and glory. 

Thus there needs be the greatest overturn- 
ing of our past lives if we are to make true 
progress in the life we have set ourselves to 
attain. There is no way for souls to mount 
but on the bodies of their dead selves. 

There gets into all our lives laws, customs, 
and habits which need be uprooted and the 
soil put to a better use. Besides this we need 
get this soil into such a state of cultivation 
that it will presage a very bountiful harvest. 
The graces and fruits of the religious life 
must have had a previous careful cultivation, 
or they will be puny and inefficient. The 
wise farmer does half of his cultivation be- 
fore he deposits the seed for the growing. 

Temptation is often the great transition pe- 
riod when we are being broken up in order 
to the being built anew into a more beautiful 
superstructure than we could possibly have 
been built into without being first torn asun- 
der. "Our times of greatest pleasure are 

23 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

when we have won some higher peak of diffi- 
culty, trodden under foot some evil, and felt, 
day by day, so sure a growth of moral 
strength within us that we can not conceive 
of an end of growth." — Brooke. 

Who has not felt those new courses of life 
passing through his frame which give him 
glorious sensations of satisfactory achieve- 
ments? The coming of the new, the fresh 
experiences of efficiency, the glad awakening 
of the slumbering affections, tell us of the still 
greater life constantly opening up before us. 

Thus joy becomes all the more a mysteri- 
ous quality. By changing the order some- 
what we can say, "Joy takest up that it layest 
not down, and reapedst that it did not sow." 
In that place we most expect to find joy we 
usually find it there conspicuous for its ab- 
sence. Where it is least expected there is it 
found in abundance. One thing, however, 
we can always bear in mind: that joy comes 
when we expend our lives in noble endeavor 
in the ways of God for the uplift of humanity. 
Whatever man feels taken from his life in 

24 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

service, in conformity to the divine plan he 
will find returned to him, carrying, as does the 
bee from its flight across unknown fields in 
flowering time, the real honey of life which 
he can deposit against any great day. He 
will find a new life, and that life will be glori- 
fied and joyous. 

Joy, like diamonds, is found" " where there 
is none." The Master came out of Naza- 
reth, from whence no good thing could come. 
So joy has no humanly conceived abode. It 
is like a child which seeks only the good and 
pure, holy and righteous. 

This story will best illustrate what has been 
expressed: One day a pastor in the course 
of his visitation observed a house about which 
he had never seen any person, although it 
showed to be an inhabited dwelling. On 
making his presence known at the door of 
this modest home, a very cheerful voice from 
within called, "Come in." He entered him- 
self within, and the same cheerful voice again 
spoke, "Be seated." 

Presently the curtains in the rear of the 

25 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

room moved slowly apart, and there sat a 
woman in a wheel-chair. Her features were 
the most distorted of any the pastor had ever 
seen. She was almost helpless in her body; 
her face was so distorted and her limbs so 
drawn that the "man of God" sat speechless 
until the same cheerful voice broke the spell 
of his silence. 

There in her wheel-chair sat that poor, 
almost helpless, sad-featured woman, alone, 
as her husband had to be away at his work 
the whole day. Almost helpless, full of pain, 
with no hope of ever being better until God 
called her hence, yet she was as full of joy 
as the running rivulet as it merrily runs its 
way down to the sea. What Jean Ingelow 
wrote this poor woman lived: 

"It is a comely fashion to be glad, 
Joy is the grace we say to God." 

The world will never be able to compre- 
hend the debt it owes to those who have joy 
in their hearts. Those in whose hearts the 
grace of joy abounds are of more worth than 
those of scarcely any other grace of the spir- 

26 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

itual life. Joy has only begun its blessing 
when it floods the soul of the one in whose 
heart it swells. 

Observe what joy means when we see the 
martyrs, amid the most heartless atrocities, 
the recipients of as cruel indignities as have 
ever been perpetrated, who could shout and 
sing praises to Almighty God "with as much 
exuberance as though they were attending the 
most hilarious banquet. While the fires these 
human beasts had made were consuming their 
bodies, their spirits were exuberant and their 
souls knew no bounds of joy. They, like 
Jesus, had u meat to eat they knew not of." 
Their lives were hid with Christ in God, and 
the angels sang sweet music to their souls as 
the fires relieved them from their distresses 
in the body. 

Even the disciples could not have had as 
much joy as they did possess had they not 
had access constantly to the hidden Fountain. 
They unceasingly resorted to this "place of 
joy." Like the martyrs, they remained in 
holy relations with the invisible supply of all 

27 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

grace and succor while the fires of hatred 
burned in the hearts of their vile persecutors. 
This Fountain kept them fully supplied with 
the joy of God's salvation and the peace of 
His grace so covered them that no real harm 
could come to them. The Divine Presence 
was with them as their soul's greatest treas- 
ure. Having Him, they asked for nothing 
more. 

Joy is indeed like the palm tree, in that it 
sinks its roots far beneath the varying surface 
of the changing conditions of life, extending 
them on to some hidden spring. It does not 
depend upon the vacillating attitudes of life 
or the varying feelings of men, but goes far 
below to the constant and eternal sources of 
God's unfailing love. Love will not let go. 
It clings as does the mother to her helpless 
child. 

While the droughts and blasts do come, as 
do likewise come the changing seasons, yet 
the leaves of the tree of joy remain green 
and healthful, its sap full and constant, its 
fruits always sure and of the choicest quality, 

28 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

and its life eternal. It is not dependent upon 
the coming of the rains at the proper seasons, 
or the particular direction of the winds. 

A man can not expect a harvest of grain 
upon a desert waste, and neither will a sane 
person expect the fullness of the life of joy 
in a religiously barren heart. 

When the water is turned in upon the des- 
ert it is made to blossom like the rose; and 
when God's salvation is poured into even the 
most degenerate heart there is no spiritual 
fruit or flower so grand but the full fruition 
of that heart may be able to reach its highest 
perfection. The high culture of the spiritual 
life is attainable by every son of man who 
will but lend himself to its rich inbreathing. 

Who has not seen the material sage and 
cacti in human hearts give place to those trees 
and plants found only in the fruit-producing 
regions of sanctification and glorification? 
Marvelous is the change which comes into the 
desert of man's heart when the waters of 
God's redeeming grace are turned into that 
soul. When the love of God is poured into 
3 29 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

the human breast in that fullness which comes 
from a complete submerging of that soul in 
God in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is that 
great abounding fullness and splendor of 
character and the effulgence of perfume as 
to excite the greatest admiration and to pro- 
duce spiritual animation. 

Jesus had this doubtless in mind when He 
said, "Let your light so shine before men that 
others seeing your good work may glorify 
your Father which is in heaven." The Mas- 
ter knew that it is impossible to shine unless 
there are the elements which are light-produc- 
ing. No man can shine for the Kingdom of 
Christ who is not on fire for the Kingdom 
of Christ. It takes the oil of joy in our 
hearts to make words of praise on our lips. 

One Sabbath morning a man presented 
himself for membership in the Church of 
which I was then pastor. The marks of sin 
upon his face were as conspicuous as any that 
most of us have ever seen. Every bearing of 
his life gave manifest expression of the depths 
of sin into which he had fallen. 

30 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

The session talked with him about his re- 
linquishing his life of sin and of any relation- 
ship he might have with Christ, and he was 
found indeed sincere in his convictions and 
truly penitent for his sinful life. His motives 
for assuming a new role in life were as high 
as could be expected from one who had so 
grossly fallen into sin. And he hoped ex- 
pectantly for his future days to be spent in 
the happy experience and the loving service 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave unmis- 
takable evidence that Jesus Christ's blood had 
w r ashed away his sins and that he was a new 
creature in Christ. 

He told of his awful acts in his life of 
sin, of the shameful relations in which he had 
indulged, of his driving from his ill-provided 
home and his own heart his faithful wife, 
who forgave his every trespass against de- 
cency and her own pure life; he told of his 
life of dissipation and debauch, going even to 
the farthest extremes of vileness. He told 
one sad occasion after another, each one seem- 
ing to grow more vile and contemptible than 

31 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

the preceding until we each wondered whether 
the mercy of God could extend to him. As I 
recall his words it makes me yet shudder. 
Could Christ's atoning blood become effica- 
cious for him? That was the one question 
in the mind of all. In the deepest feeling of 
our hearts we recommended him to God. 

Yes, the blood of Christ is for the deep- 
dyed sinner too. He was at that moment a 
saved man. The blood of Jesus Christ had 
cleansed his heart from its sin, and he was 
then walking in the way of the justified. He 
had been made an heir of God and a joint 
heir with Christ. There was at that hour 
every grace and virtue of the Christian life 
open to him. That in his life, which had 
brought sensuality, dissipation and every evil 
lust had been transplanted, and there was the 
workings of Divine Grace in his heart. 

From that time forth he has been righting 
every possible wrong and seeking daily to 
get on the higher ground of his religious ex- 
perience. And the life of joy had been grow- 
ing in his heart until it has become a great 

32 



THE NATURE OF JOY 

tree. Seeing him now would be the beholding 
a man in whose life some great grace had 
come. One of the most pleasing sights of 
my ministry has been to see that man grow 
in the knowledge and grace of Christ. 

God does save men to the most glorious 
enrichment. He saves men unto eternal life. 
He gives them the joy of Himself, which 
becomes dynamic for every high and graceful 
endeavor and the abounding freedom of chil- 
dren of God. 

This joy which God gives is a glorious ad- 
junct to every man's life. It corrects his 
nature and gives him strength and direction 
to perform acts of splendor and valor. Since 
every man has far more in his life than he 
is able to express in words, this joy in his 
life becomes the message of his soul and he 
becomes rightly understood. Man's face al- 
ways tells the story of the secret joy hidden 
in the deep recesses of his heart. "A merry 
heart maketh a cheerful countenance." 

Joy can not be hid. It will find its way 
out through some avenue. It will lighten the 

33 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

burden of some poor worn one and cheer the 
heart of the distressed. Joy concealed is only 
the mirage of joy. 

"Give me a heart of calm repose 
Amid the world's loud roar; 
A life that like a river flows 
Along a peaceful shore. ,, 



34 



The Value of Joy 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

"I hold it truth with him who sings, 
In one clear note of divers tones, 
That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things." 

Such is the natural outburst of a human soul 
when he feels the impelling motive of the life 
of joy. Saint Paul had the prompting force 
of this life when he exclaimed, "I can do all 
things through Christ, who strengtheneth 
me." 

The life of joy is of the greatest worth in 
all the affairs of which man is a part. It 
thrills, it delights, it inspires for every ac- 
tivity. The man whose soul is in the full 
grace of the joyous life is prepared for the 
most painstaking achievement. 

"There are in the loud, stunning tide 
Of human care and crime, 
With whom the melodies abide 
Of the everlasting chime, 

37 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Who carry music in their heart 
Through dusky lanes and wrangling mart, 
Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat." 

The man of full joy will do more work 
and do it easier than the one in whose life 
there is not the fullest joy. If there is even 
a thread of gloom, there is weakness to that 
extent. 

There is no possibility of helping the soul 
of the man without at the same time helping 
the hand and the heart of the man from 
within. There is an interchange of beneficent 
forces between the hand and brain and heart 
of man. 

When all the surface springs of the life 
are dried, and every star of hope seems set, 
there still remains the pure, holy, happy, in- 
spiring fountain of joy. This good friend 
of mankind neither leaves nor forsakes. As 
long as there is a flicker of light in the human 
breast there is still the assurance that hope is 
not abandoned. Thus there is the light heart, 
the deft hand, the free spirit, and all the mem- 

38 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

bers of the body agreeably respond to the 
spirit and the things needed to be done. 

After this complete and willing response of 
all the members of the human body, then 
what? There resounds praise to Almighty 
God and the return of His response to a grate- 
ful heart. Then what? There is then a 
heart prepared for still greater achievement 
than has been performed up to that particular 
time. All acquainted with skill know what 
the prepared life means. While none deny 
the value of skill, yet skill without the spirit 
is a lifeless thing. 

When men are rich in the life of joy, 
gloom and despair have no place in their lives. 
All know the deadening effects of these cor- 
rupting influences upon the human spirit. 
They tear the human spirit like a ravenous 
wolf tears the carcass of the young lamb it 
is devouring. While, on the other hand, joy 
enriches the soul like the warm spring rains 
which refresh and enliven the cold dry ground 
after a long and severe winter. 

But little spiritual value does that one re- 

39 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

ceive who has to satisfy his own soul from the 
accumulations of his own wellsprings. The 
great rivers must be fed from the fountains 
higher up on the mountains. 

"I dreamed last night all through the darkened 
watches ; 

I dreamed again in the old dream, love, of you; 
Dreamed (oh, sacred trust!) you said you loved me; 

I dreamed, awoke, and found it sweetly true." 

The largest and deepest wells can soon be 
emptied unless they are fed by springs corre- 
sponding to the drawings from them. The 
smallest spring affords a bountiful supply 
when it is fed by fountains correspondingly 
well fed. 

In the heart of man there are many recep- 
tacles for the holding the graces of God. 
There are many altars at which the angel of 
our spirit worships. There are many spirits 
to attend the holy guests in the human soul. 
There are many graces to claim the attention 
of the saints in light. These severally need 
only the kind encouragement of the powers 
of the soul to have willing hands grasp and, 

40 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

guiding spirits direct them in all their grand 
achievments graciously prompted in the breast 
of man. 

There are in us much more good and many 
latent possibilities than we give ourselves the 
credit of possessing. Many good men wear 
the rough side of their coats out; yet, how 
tenderly they care for the lambs of the flock 
of God ! yea, even more tenderly than for the 
grown sheep of the fold. Brusk hands often 
wipe away soft-falling tears. The sweetest 
tenderness is not always found beneath "seal- 
skins." Being found in the good way, we 
become better by doing, by giving. "Being 
found in the fashion of a man, He humbled 
Himself." 

There is no life which so expresses the 
desert waste in his life as does that man who 
undertakes to satisfy his own craving from 
his own reserve power. He allows his own 
vitals to be ruthlessly eaten while certainly 
conscious of the fact that he has neither the 
power of reproducing fruit, flower, or leaf, 
nor of even maintaining the spiritual momen- 

41 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

turn already gained without having his soul 
constantly inspired by the Great Power of 
all life. The vitals of Prometheus were re- 
stored again as hastily as the eagle consumed 
them. But the restoring of the God-given 
blessings are not committed in the manner 
that iEschylus's myth depicted. God alone 
fulfills this, and to Him we must go to have 
our joy made perfect. 

This life of joy has been enjoyed deeply by 
a host of Christ-filled saints. I have one of 
these dear, noble characters in mind almost 
constantly. She lived in our home. She was 
blind. A mere lad that I was at her coming, 
yet I vividly remember how we viewed her 
coming. And we all Were conscious of the 
change of sentiment which came into every 
member of our family after she came. 

At her coming she was past seventy years 
old, weak of body, her needs many. All ex- 
pected the years of her abiding with us as 
years of burden-bearing and caretaking. So 
far as we could see, there was nothing but 
years of sacrifice and servitude, all for the 

42 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

sake of an old, blind, poor aunt, in whom her 
own children had less concern than had we. 

Our charge was taken with the best grace 
we could command, intending to not alone 
make the best of the situation, but to actually 
try to make the old woman as happy as pos- 
sible. It did really seem that much unpleas- 
ant service could be looked forward to in 
caring for such a helpless blind woman. But 
things are not always what they seem; for 
quite the contrary was the real outcome. 

After a few days spent with us and we 
got to know the beauty of her character and 
the cheer in her life, we could see beyond 
any mere service we were rendering to that 
fuller glory of a real Christly character and 
to behold some new blessing heretofore not 
found in our home. Then that spirit of 
bearing a burden hied away as hastily as 
moles on the incoming of light. True, we 
often felt quite ashamed that we had ever 
had such mean thoughts of our little minis- 
tries, for we were entertaining an angel un- 
awares. 

43 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

The closeness of her life to her Savior, her 
devotion to her Church, the deep and abiding 
joy in her heart, and the beautiful serenity 
of her whole life made her one of the richest 
blessings which could come into any home. 
Not alone was our family blessed directly by 
her presence, but she attracted other saintly 
spirits to her side, and all who came within 
the threshold of our family circle felt that 
gleam of spiritual life so uplifting to every 
creature. The sweet joy and most sacred 
peace which constantly appeared in her life 
was as refreshing morsels to the palate of a 
weary traveler. Her own heart being glad, 
she made us rejoice too. 

Many a discouraged minister of the gospel 
came to sit for a while with "Aunt Polly," 
and when he left he would carry a new vision 
of the Christ and the glorified life. I owe 
very much of my own spiritual appreciation 
to her who had no sight but saw so much. 
The rich experience of joy she had in her 
heart made a frail old woman one of the most 
efficient servants of Christ I have ever known. 

44 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

Having no eyes through which she could see, 
she used the eyes of faith and a life full of 
rich fruits of holiness to appreciate the glories 
of the Spirit; her life became a sweet sym- 
phonic production of the rich harmonies of a 
glorified character in Christ. 

What a pleasure it was to sit at even-time 
and read to her out of the Word of Life. As 
some passage would express the deep feeling 
of her own heart, she would give a slight 
shout of joy and smile as sweetly as an angel. 
The fountain of the sweetest joy would well 
up in her heart and all the glories of heaven 
seemed thrown around her. Never an un- 
kind word, never an unholy thought, never 
any expression but that of kindness and good- 
ness. Her life possessed the rich treasures 
of heaven, and her conversation was such as 
becometh saints. God talked to her, and 
she told us about the conversation. 

After considering such rich expressions of 
God in dealing with His children it should 
bestir every person of tender years to read 
the last part of the Ninety-second Psalm: 

45 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: 
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 
They are planted in the house of Jehovah; 
They shall flourish in the courts of our God. 
They shall bring forth fruit in old age; 
They shall be full of sap and green." 

One of the greatest burdens of old age is 
that the person of the full years considers 
himself utterly useless. The very contrary 
should be, and often is, quite true. No one 
else is so "full of sap and green" as the one 
who is "bending low on his staff," full of 
years and full of God. 

No one would say that an old person is 
useless because he is old. We might with 
just as much propriety consider the full corn 
in the ear a useless thing. While it is true 
that the full corn in the ear will not bend so 
modestly to the soft breezes of the wind as 
will the greener stalks, yet there is no fruit 
without this formal period. There are lack- 
ing from the mature stalk some things which 
were in it at an earlier time, but it likewise 
possesses qualities which that earlier time did 

4 6 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

not have. It now feeds the hungfy, it sat- 
isfies the cravings of the appetite, it replen- 
ishes the organs and builds up the system; 
the wasted tissues become full again, so that 
the body becomes able to provide for that 
proper support so necessary to all life's activi- 
ties, and man feels that he is given that good 
backing he so unceasingly needs. 

Such is the true conception regarding the 
righteous man who has spent long years of 
life upon earth. His head may be whitened 
by the frosts of many winters, his visage may 
be marked by the scars of many a fierce en- 
gagement, his tread may be as uncertain as 
the New England weather, and his voice as 
free from music as a dumb bull, yet he may 
be as full of life and sweetness and real effi- 
ciency as can be conceived. 

When the old patriarch and saint knows 
that he is really appreciated, he has a fresh 
interest in life, and everything and everybody 
give him suggestions of love. The joy of 
renewed activity comes to him, and his years 
are lengthened by a considerable number. 

47 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Joy possesses him, and he becomes young 
again. He will then remember that 

"Time, that does all else decay, 
Still makes them flourish strong and fair." 

It is well for the young to remember that 
the flower of life is not the fruit of life and 
that the flower exists for the fruit. It may 
be more expressive of beauty to see the or- 
chard full of flower and bloom in the spring- 
time, but the appetite is satisfied and the sys- 
tem of our bodies nourished only when the 
fruit is ripe and fair. It is well for the aged 
to remember something also: that the fruit 
is not fully ripe and entirely nourishing until 
there comes again the beauty of youth. It 
should really be — once a man and twice a boy. 

It is lamentably true that many young 
people consider the aged ones a burden, and 
such a feeling may not be wholly without 
grounds. But I speak for those alone in 
whom there is no cause for so thinking — the 
righteous, those dear, sweet, God-inspirited 
ones. If the man of threescore and ten is 

48 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

found in the way of virtue and holiness, and 
there shines out from his life beams of joy 
and sunshine, there can not arise any burden 
on account of needed attention resulting from 
his inability to care for himself. 

The joy arising from associating with the 
noble and good who have had long years of 
real experience, of commingling with persons 
of ripe life, is sufficient compensation for any 
service rendered. What greater delight 
could come to us than the pleasure arising 
from having as our daily companion some 
worthy aged person? No greater compli- 
ment can be paid to our own worth than to 
have as intimate friends those who have been 
long sojourners in the land. 

Some may consider it a hardship to care for 
the aged, but let us ever bear in mind the 
great lesson : It is a part of our lives here on 
earth to care for all on the earth so long as 
they do remain here on God's footstool, and 
to care for them as tenderly as though they 
were our own beloved parents. 

If the aged one desires a child's lullaby, 

49 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

sing it. If their lives call for refreshing from 
lives softened by the early morning dews, then 
sally forth to collect the silvery drops before 
the sun comes forth. If their lives are too 
moist, then set in motion those breezes which 
gather up the unnecessary moisture. What- 
ever the life needs, see that it is provided. 

You would do it were you paid in the coin 
of the realm; and now you have an unsur- 
passed opportunity to have pay in the coin of 
the realm of the spiritual life. Our lives 
never beat in such lovely harmony to the 
music of the heavenly life as when we are 
keeping time with some old pilgrim of the 
Cross. Oh, that some artist would arise to 
paint the new Madonna's breathing love into 
the lives of the old and infirm. 

We consider the cultivation of the corn a 
worthy occupation. We are satisfactorily 
compensated when we get ears of corn for 
our labor. No one is thought of in any way 
but that of being in the pursuit of an end 
worthy of the highest dignity when he tills 
the soil and garners his harvest. Now, there 

50 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

is no comparison whatever between growing 
corn and in the helping some soul into a more 
joyous frame of mind and a more heavenly 
state of living. If material possession were 
the highest return in compensation for labor 
and thought, then we might change our plans 
in life to meet such a condition ; but so long 
as the "life is more than meat and the body 
than raiment," just so long must we act in 
keeping with this high ideal of Christ. 

That man who will pour out the material 
wealth he holds into the life and soul of the 
aged and infirm will find his own life en- 
riched in all the blessings and fullness which 
both God and man are able to bestow upon 
him. Hearts grow by bestowing their affec- 
tion and power upon other persons weaker 
and less able to cope with life's hard strug- 
gles than are they. It is easy to be ready 
to lend assistance to those who do not need 
it; but the test of life is in helping the one 
who is down and out. 

We gain in the strength of our lives by 
giving. Each man is enriched by that which 

Si 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

passes away from him. It is in expending 
that the soul, just as the mind by expending, 
becomes rich. 

It is not that which comes into a man which 
defiles him, but that which goes out from 
him that defiles him. It is in the very same 
way that we become rich. A man is glori- 
fied by that life which passes out of himself 
in love and service to others. It was in 
humbling Himself and becoming obedient 
unto death that Jesus was exalted and given 
a name which is above every name. 

I have never observe a young person put- 
ting his life into the lives of the aged but 
I feel entirely confident of his moral worth 
to this life and his full assurance in the at- 
tainment of all good things being given unto 
his true enrichment. God puts His blessings 
into the life which means most to His King- 
dom. And the interest of heaven knows no 
bounds to aid him who proves himself worthy 
of the divine infilling. ' 



?2 



THE VALUE OF JOY 

"A nameless man, amid a crowd that thronged the 

daily mart, 
Let fall a word of hope and love, unstudied from 

the heart; 
A whisper on the tumult thrown — a transitory 

breath — 
It raised a brother from the dust; it saved a soul 

from death. 
O germ ! O fount ! O word of love ! O thought 

at random cast! 
Ye were but little at the first, but mighty at the 

last!" Charles Mackay. 



53 



The Ministry of Joy 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

When Jesus was here on earth among men 
He was one day traveling with His disciples 
through Samaria. They came to a parcel of 
ground which Jacob had given to his son 
Joseph. Now, Jacob's well was there. 

While the disciples were gone away into 
the city to buy meat, Jesus sat on the well. 
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw 
water. Jesus asked her for a drink. In her 
great astonishment she said, "How is it that 
Thou, being a Jew, askest a drink of me 
which am a woman of Samaria ? for the Jews 
have no dealings with the Samaritans." 
Then Jesus replied, "If thou knewest the gift 
of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give 
Me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of 
Him, and He would have given thee living 
water; for the water that I shall give him 
shall be in him a well of water, springing up 
into eternal life." Then the woman, being 

57 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

so greatly impressed, went away and told her 
people of Him who had told her so much of 
herself, and had brought into her life a joy 
that had not been there before. 

That joy which the Savior had brought 
into her life made that woman a character 
and a life. There is no earthly dynamic like 
that produced by the Lord of glory. Men 
and women who have been open transgressors 
against the principles of heaven and the vir- 
tues of life find their old lives giving way to 
new, and new glories coming to take the place 
of the disgrace of other days. This joy has 
a ministry in itself which impels as well as 
enriches. It cultures, it graces, it compels to 
magnanimity of action and fullness of service. 

When a man sets out to make a life worth 
while he begets a power in his life and gathers 
about him an array of helpful servants who 
foster his life in the graces of Christ. As 
Saul was able to carry with him a body of 
men "whose hearts God had touched," so 
may we all have the accompanying presence 
and ministry of the life of joy. 

53 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

No one has a right to come to the grave 
without a long life and a well-spent life in the 
loyal service of the forces of righteousness. 
The frivolity of youth may somewhat be 
passed over and the godlessness of youth may 
be somewhat palliated; but for an aged and 
tottering man to be without God and hope in 
the Lord Jesus Christ is bespeaking a gross 
neglect on his part. To the aged thus found 
there is an unsupplied need which is criminal 
to his own spiritual life. 

Such negligence is likewise disastrous to 
the ones with whom the godless person comes 
into contact. It is certainly sad enough to 
know of any person without the Lord Jesus 
Christ formed in their hearts as their hope 
of glory; but for an aged man or woman 
to whom we should look as the highest and 
sweetest expression of the Christ-life to be 
devoid of such principle is beyond any ex- 
pression of disdain. It is to the souls of the 
boys and girls what an earthquake is to a city. 
It puts everything into discord and destroys 
many noble structures. 

59 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Godlessness is the basest sin. All other 
appearing sins make their entrance after the 
godless life is expressive. There would be 
no sin but for the godless life. To not con- 
form to the highest standards of the concep- 
tion of the Christian life is bad indeed; but 
to be wholly without God is to make wreck 
before there is a beginning. 

There is a safe refuge to which we all may 
flee. None but the basest will not want to 
escape the pangs of a sinful life. One who 
knew the whole matter said, "I would rather 
be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than 
to dwell in the tents of wickedness." But in 
the house of God we can be more than a door- 
keeper — we can be the real resident of the 
house, with all the powers and privileges of 
a worthy householder. 

As to the matter of burdens, there is no 
burden where love rules. But love can not 
be the absorbing passion of the individual 
unless there is the conformity of the heart to 
the One of love. If we fail to recognize the 
One who loved first, how can we love? "I 

60 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

love Him because He first loved me,"" is what 
all are compelled to admit. 

The conformity to the highest standards 
of life is a glorious attainment. These stand- 
ards are at the same time the way of God 
to our hearts. God gets into our souls 
through the open ways into our hearts. 
These ways of God are the very best possible. 

It is true that there is but a partial fulfill- 
ing of the plans of God in our souls. This 
is occasioned by the dross and filth we allow 
to not alone accumulate in the passage ways 
into our souls, but to actually get into our 
hearts. Yet, notwithstanding the fact, the 
ways of God are partially realized in our 
lives. It would be better if the ways of the 
Almighty were wholly realized and made per- 
fect in us. We bespeak for ourselves the 
highest degree of worth when we are able to 
demonstrate a free passage into a pure heart. 

The life which God puts into the human 

soul is the righteous life. The one thus 

blessed seeks to do God's will by conforming 

completely to the compelling life of love and 

s 61 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

grace. This life, thus enriched, becomes in 
turn a generator in generating, nurturing, and 
building up a better life and more consistent 
practice. 

It is well that we keep in mind that there 
is no real efficiency but through the efficiency 
of Jesus Christ operating unto the Christian 
character in us and interceding with God for 
us. Many persons seem to feel sufficient in 
themselves; that one alone is sufficient who 
finds his sufficiency in God. 

You have often seen those lives which are 
so rich in God that their every movement re- 
leases choice fruits and rich glories. You 
felt, when in their presence, that you were in 
the midst of the paradise of God. Their 
lives were so rich and their fruits so ripe and 
mellow that you wondered whether you were 
on earth or had been transplanted to "Ca- 
naan's fair and happy land." These persons 
count not their lives dear unto themselves, 
but allow the waters of grace and love to 
course them, that they may do some little 
part to complete the Kingdom of Christ. 

62 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

One Sunday morning, while on "a recent 
vacation, on going to church I was seated 
beside a man of past middle life, of a fine 
manly bearing. His strong character would 
make him a conspicuous figure in any crowd 
of people. But what interested me in him 
most was the way he took hold on that serv- 
ice. His appearance was that of a patriarch, 
and the bearing of the man was that of cul- 
ture and refinement. 

The service was to him a service of the 
Lord. It had in it the message of glory. 
The songs, the prayers, God's Word, the 
sermon — all meant that God was talking with 
him. They filled his soul to the very full. 
They were all meant for him. He set up 
an altar of worship there. He went forth to 
meet God. And God was pleased with him. 

God puts everything into our souls which 
we are able to contain. To the man who is 
prepared He sends the angels to greet. It 
thus becomes us to fulfill all the plans of the 
Father in the hearts which He has placed 
within our bosoms. It remains for us to 

63 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

make ready for the King when He comes. 
Only those who have their lamps trimmed 
and burning, and all things ready, are privi- 
leged to pass within the sacred precincts when 
the Bridegroom comes. 

God will grow the apples, but we must pick 
them and carry them into the place of keep- 
ing. The rich fruit for the soul is ripe and 
ready to gather, and for every hand ; but that 
hand receiving has to reach forth from an 
internal compulsion to gather in the luscious 
fruit. This is the part of the man himself. 

God never made man to be a machine. He 
gave him freedom of choice. God will make 
up the character, but the man in whom the 
character is to be has to gather the materials 
himself. God will help us grow in grace and 
in knowledge of Jesus Christ, but He will 
not compel us in the choices we make either 
before or after we accept Christ as Lord. 
We are free in our choice of Christ and in 
our movements in Christ. All these things 
are governed by the compulsion of the Christ- 
life in the individual himself. 

6 4 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

Education, culture, riches, virtue are graces 
of religion open to all, but they do not come 
either collectively or separately to that one 
who withholds the reaching. A man may 
be very imperfect in the reach, but it must 
be some kind of an effort on his part to grasp 
the things which make up his spiritual cul- 
ture. Choice viands of God's own construc- 
tion are before us, but any withholding is re- 
fused infilling. 

Wealth may elude its seeker; education 
may be for the choice ones; culture may be 
for the select; but the graces of the Lord 
Jesus Christ are for every one who will but 
reach forth to grasp them. u Come unto Me 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest," is the Savior's simple in- 
vitation to all. " Whosoever will may come 
to the Fountain of eternal life." 

"All things are ready: come to the feast; 
Come, for the door is open wide." 

How refreshing to our hearts it is to know 
that we have a Divine One who is always 

65 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

interested in our welfare. Men are not very- 
constant. Were we compelled to rely upon 
our fellow-men all the time as the nearest to 
the perfect we could get, there would be many 
a sad deficiency; but we can go to God. He 
is always constant. And neither is God com- 
pelled to place the non-fulfillment upon any 
other one. He has all sufficiency in Himself. 
The kindest and most affectionate father 
often sees his own darling children in great 
need of even the common necessities of life 
without being able to satisfy that need. But 
the Heavenly Father always has "enough and 
to spare." 

"My Father is rich in houses and lands, 
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands; 
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, 
His coffers are full; He has riches untoId. ,, 

There have been persons of the weakest 
intellects, of little financial standing, of a bare 
place in the world of culture, who on taking 
the life of joy in the Lord Jesus Christ be- 
came rich in good works and powerful in 
grace. Mr. Moody is such an example. Be- 

66 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

fore he knew Christ he was not conspicuous, 
but after he found the Fountain of joy he 
took a firm place in the field of intellectual 
matters. He chose that better part of doing 
good, and the world will ever be richer for 
his having lived. 

It is a fact well known that there is no 
field so wide open to the aspiring youth of 
the present day as is the field of doing good. 
To do good is possible to every one. None 
so rich and none so poor, so high or so low, 
so swift or so slow, so wise or so ignorant, 
or any other condition, but may find a place 
in doing good. 

We can not all be teachers or ministers 
or merchants or manufacturers, but we can all 
be carriers of cheer and sunshine, of encour- 
agement and help. The hearts of men are 
always open. Need presses upon the rich and 
poor alike. Poverty is not confined to ma- 
terial possessions. In the life of the Spirit 
wealth in money may mean poverty in soul. 
It is not every one that saith, "Lord, Lord," 
that gets into the Kingdom of heaven. 

6 7 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

There is a great host of persons who be- 
long to the throng of worthies who are help- 
ing the world to a higher life. The minister, 
teacher, doctor, lawyer, and a countless host 
of others are doing all in their power to ob- 
literate sin and its consequences and bring in 
peace on earth and good will to all mankind. 

The world of doing one another good is 
more open than ever before. The better men 
become, the more good can be done them. 
The finer the quality of the steel, the more 
valuable it becomes by a little more operation. 
The more susceptible men's souls are to the 
graces of God, the more potent they are in 
the sphere of Christ. Loyalty to God in serv- 
ice to fellow-men is receiving an impetus in 
grateful hearts hitherto unknown. 

Some people seem to think that being re- 
ligious is to be all the time living in the world 
of negatives. Negatives are like crutches — 
to be used only so long as a man is lame. 
The world of negatives is necessary only so 
long as the positive life can not be utilized 
to the limit of its capability. The constitu- 

68 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

tion of our lives is to positiveness. With 
some persons negatives are like commands 
which they feel all the more like doing after 
being told not to do them. 

Jesus gave the Christian world to under- 
stand that it is to live in the realm of the 
positive life. That they were to live in right- 
eousness, godliness, temperance, patience, 
love, faith, hope, assurance, activity directed 
toward the high, holy, pure, and to become 
like God. To sacrifice is good, but to obey 
as a means of grace is far preferable. Only 
in the realm of the positive can there be the 
true affection of the heart. 

The negative is for times of affliction, while 
the positive life is for abounding health. One 
of the great troubles with the past has been its 
dependence upon negatives for its poise in 
life rather than the aggressive endeavor 
which knows attainment. "Thou shalt" as 
a principle in life is far preferable to u thou 
shalt not." The new commandment Jesus 
gave was, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 

6 9 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself." Going ever onward. 

On one occasion a young lady presented 
herself for membership in the Church which 
I was serving. She told me of her desire to 
unite with the Church, but was troubled about 
her great desire for certain amusements which 
she greatly enjoyed. Her mother had told 
her she must lay them aside if she united 
with the Church. She wanted to keep up 
her relation with these amusements. Wish- 
ing to keep these amusements and at the 
same time desiring to unite with the Church 
had disturbed her mind greatly. 

She was quite surprised when I told her 
that the matter of first importance in accept- 
ing Christ was not a matter of giving up, 
but of accepting, of believing. She then 
seemed ready to follow Christ all the way. 
I told her of the great sacrifice Christ had 
made for us, and that if we loved Him su- 
premely there would be nothing we would 
want to hold inconsistent with His will. To 
this she gave unhesitating assent. She freely 

70 



THE MINISTRY OF JOY 

said that she would not want to keep on do- 
ing something she knew to be wrong. I asked 
her to accept Jesus Christ fully as her own 
Lord and Savior, and let the outer conformity 
be settled in the conviction of her own heart 
in the new and vital relation with Christ. 
This she was entirely willing to do. How 
about that special amusement? From that 
day to the present she has had no desire for 
it. To her Christ is all and all. 

That which is first is to accept the life in 
which the attainment is possible. What we 
will do under certain circumstances can not 
be known until those circumstances are ter- 
minated. As deciding on a certain course as 
a Christian, the thing to do is to let the Lord 
Jesus Christ get within our hearts and then 
make our decisions afterward. All secondary 
matters will settle themselves when the pri- 
mary are disposed of satisfactorily. u Let 
the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts." 
This will settle all matters. 

There may be those who will wonder why 
we speak of the life of joy in this wise. It 

71 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

is this. The life of joy is never known out- 
side of the loyal recognition of the Sonship 
of the Christ of God. All the blessedness 
and sweetness of which the life is capable of 
attaining in Christ are not to bq found out- 
side of Him. It is only when the relations 
with the Master are perfect that the richness 
of the Christ courses the soul of His dis- 
ciples. "I am the vine, ye are the branches. 
If ye abide in Me and My words abide in 
you ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall 
be done unto you." 

A man must unreservedly serve and adore 
the God of all life, would he have the rights 
of salvation open to him in all the possibility 
and beauty of that life. 

Thus we see the futility of seeking joy in 
any quarter save in the cross of Christ. 
There always will be the cross. Always 
something to bear and overcome for right- 
eousness' sake. The spirit which we mani- 
fest in this cross determines our relation with 
God. Peter would smite, while Jesus would 
submit. 

72 



The Ground Elements of Joy 



THE GROUND ELEMENTS OF JOY 

It is a beautiful accomplishment to really see 
and feel and appreciate the force and value 
of things great and good. This means that 
power is not reached by a single bound. We 
grow from states into states. There is noth- 
ing worth the gaining but comes with some 
expenditure of the life forces. 

This life is at its best a way paved with 
many disappointments. It is a way bordered 
with thorns as well as covered with flowers. 
It is a way laid with the bones of many a 
pedestrian and is long and meandering. But 
if man is faithful to the call of the Higher 
Sphere he will triumph over the difficulties 
and gain his haven of repose and delight. 

Man has always been anxious for quick 
journeys and profitable jobs. We are all 
anxious for the easy way and the calm repose. 
Only the few but wish 

"To sail to heaven on flowery beds of ease," 
75 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

although conscious all the while that 

"Others must fight to win the prize, 
And sail through bloody seas." 

When we have come to the point of realiz- 
ing that 

"Life is real, life is earnest," 

we have made much progress toward both 
success and joy. 

There is too much in life of value to be 
passed over in a light or trivial manner. And 
to become strong in anything whatsoever, 
we must conform to the laws of strength. 
The blacksmith becomes strong in the part 
of his body needed to carry forward his work. 
The professor who needs more strength of 
mind than of body finds his strength becomes 
more where it is used and less where unused. 
Not alone is it true that "to him that hath 
shall be given, and from him that hath not 
shall be taken even that he hath," but man 
becomes stronger in that part he has, and 
weaker in that part where he is already weak, 
if he neglects to use that part. 

76 



THE GROUND ELEMENTS OF JOY 

In order to acquaint ourselves with some 
of the elements of joy let us look at it in 
the manner which will be effectual to get 
some understanding of it. Let us have in 
mind a noble character, one of the associates 
of the Lord while He was upon the earth 
among men. 

Peter was y/ith the Lord when some of the 
greatest works of the Master were done. 
He was with Jesus at His transfiguration, at 
His agony in the Garden; it was to him Jesus 
Himself spoke, "Upon this rock I will build 
My Church;" he was lifted from the waves 
by the Christ, saw many of the mighty acts 
of his Lord in this world. And notwithstand- 
ing his slowness of heart in believing, Peter 
became one of the richest of all Christ's dis- 
ciples. But Peter did not learn all his lessons 
while the Lord of Glory was still living. He 
had to pass through the trials before he could 
comprehend that Jesus is King of pain, grace, 
and life. 

One thing can be said with considerable 
certainty, that Peter gave the Church of 

77 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Christ some of its grandest teachings. Take 
the letters which bear his name. There are 
few passages in all of the Holy Word which 
are more expressive than are the words of 
Peter. Just take a minute and read a few 
verses. See with what ease they flow. No 
other one so speaks. His utterances come 
with the beautiful flow of a spring rivulet. 

Let us look more carefully at one of his 
sentences: "Believing, ye rejoice greatly with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory." u Joy 
unspeakable." It is a very deep joy that has 
no words for its expression. It is a joy that 
has passed beyond the tongue and entered 
into all the recesses of the heart. 

All the really deep and beautiful things 
are beyond the expression of speech. They 
have neither tongue nor language. Love has 
no tongue; neither has peace; nor the con- 
scious presence of God which gives us the life 
of joy. Yet these awaken the sweet singers 
of the soul and make melody in the heart to 
flow as a song. 

The preciousness of joy is unspeakably 

78 



THE GROUND ELEMENTS OF JOY 

great. Joy is a "deep and silent' thing." 
u The gods approve the depth and not the 
tumult of the soul." When you see the wa- 
ters rippling you know that the shoals are 
near. Fish are seldom caught on the ripples. 
The water is purified only when there is a 
running over of the waves. 

The shallow heart alone is able to tell all 
its feelings. Rich emotions and deep feelings 
are never fully expressed. Diamonds need 
no endorsement; only imitations require great 
discourses on their value. Whenever there 
is a gush of eloquence you can rest assured 
that there is a dearth of thought. 

Joy is a thing to be felt and not to be 
talked about. For a man to go about telling 
that he is full of joy would be to brand him 
as an impostor. The very telling is sure 
proof of insincerity. When we have joy it 
is wholly useless to tell others about it. They 
will know it without the telling. Our whole 
being tells the story of joy. 

I knew a man once who was all the time 
telling his wife of his love for and devotion 

79 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

to her. She did not believe him, and that 
rightly. The shark peddler has the best 
goods at the cheapest prices. The man whom 
you can trust shows you his goods, and you 
determine their merit depending upon his 
simple speech. 

There are certain unmistakable evidences 
of joy which pass beyond the range of the 
power to express. If these are noted care- 
fully there need never be a mistake by those 
with whom the person associates. When 
traits of character are manifested which can 
be generated in only one way, you may be 
assured that the cause itself is there. 

"My heart for gladness springs; 
It can no more be sad; 
For very joy it smiles and sings, 
Sees naught but sunshine glad." 

There are elements entering into life which 
produce joy with unerring accuracy. There 
is no more variation of the effect than is that 
attending a chemical combination. You know 
what to expect when you put chemical ele- 

80 



THE GROUND ELEMENTS OF JOY 

ments together. There is a certain 'product. 
Just so is it with the elements of joy. 

When you see beautiful green grass in the 
fields, trees in full leaf, flowers and birds, you 
know that spring has come and the time of 
gladness is here. Sunshine and shower have 
done their part, and the result is what you 
see before you. 

When you see the life all aglow with love 
and life and goodness, you know that there 
has been in the life the "shine and rain" of 
the spiritual life. When you see traces of 
the life of joy in the heart you know that 
the One who makes these traces has been 
there. Imitations may rack our minds, but 
they have no place in our hearts. 

"I sing for joy for that which lies 
Stored up within my heart." 

True Christian joy is glorified joy. 
"Heaven shines upon it, thus filling, suffusing, 
transfiguring, intensifying it with the power 
of Him who shines in our hearts to give us 
the glorious liberty of the sons of God." 

81 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

There is no joy like that of religion. In 
fact, there is no joy but that of religion. 
And that religion is the religion of the Lord 
and Savior Jesus Christ. A man is com- 
pelled with all his heart to affirm the great 
value of Christianity to the human soul. 

From what does joy so greatly come? 
Very largely from the spiritual mixing in a 
godly life of faith and love and service. 
Where do we find these the most fully devel- 
oped? In the heart of the one who adheres 
with tenacity to the religion of Christ. 

These excellent elements produce this, the 
most excellent of all excellent qualities, that 
which we call "joy." 

There needs not be a mistaking the forma- 
tion of joy. It requires the life of the right- 
eous mixed with the faith and love and service 
of the Christ-inspired one. There is always 
some energy accompanying every combina- 
tion. Jesus Christ is the dynamic in this case. 

Then some one who knows more than his 
Lord will say, "These elements never germi- 
nated any quality like joy; conceding that 

82 



THE GROUND ELEMENTS OF JOY 

there is such a thing as joy, it could not come 
in any such manner." Why not? After a 
chemist has tried a certain combination of 
elements for a countless number of times, and 
finds that there is not a single variation in 
the results obtained, he concludes that it is 
a fixed law that these particular elements will 
produce such a definite and unvarying result. 
He gives it out to the profession, and the 
same tests are made by them; after they have 
made a number of trials it is found that the 
result of the first one is constant; then we 
hear chemists saying, "H 2 S0 4 = sulphuric 
acid." None but the boys in the "prepara- 
tory" ever question the statement. 

Men who have been lifelong experimenters 
in the laboratory of grace have found that 
when a soul is touched by the loving finger 
of God there comes into that heart a certain 
condition dependent upon the elements in the 
life when touched. We usually say "these 
light afflictions" do certain things, but we 
find that these are dependent upon the con- 
dition of the heart and life. If the man be 

83 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

a true disciple of Christ, and that life is one 
of great faith in God, there is never any dif- 
ferent result than the greatest joy in the heart 
of that person. 

There are as many varieties of joy as there 
are of other varieties of life. Joy is still 
such when it gets very near the line of that 
simple happiness of which the world is so 
full and which none are much blessed in 
possessing. 

This is why so many claim that there is 
no joy arising from faith and love and serv- 
ice, claiming that any common thing will pro- 
duce joy. Fun may be produced by a simple 
process, and that of a very inferior quality; 
happiness, being of a higher nature, re- 
quires higher processes, while joy involves 
only that of the very highest nature and only 
the purest conceptions of life and being. 

The life of joy is composed of quite differ- 
ent compounds than is amusement or pleasure. 
The gratification of the senses has but little 
part in the life of joy. The quest of mere 
pleasure is beneath its notice. The attain- 

8 4 



THE GROUND ELEMENTS OF JOY 

ment of the favorite objects of simply the 
desire can not be countenanced. Joy is a real 
aristocrat and will not sit among inferiors. 
While it does not mark according to u race, 
color, or condition of servitude/' yet it does 
draw the line sharply according to character, 
and will not allow itself to be involved with 
the lower passions of life, although it is 
keenly alive to those qualities and graces of 
the higher nature. 

To think that joy does not have its hilari- 
ous seasons is to prove conclusively that we 
are quite unfamiliar with her exercises. Her 
associates belong, however, to the "Four 
Hundred." Love, Peace, Long-suffering, Pa- 
tience, Meekness, Gentleness, Kindness are 
her bosom friends. Graces of that character 
are the only ones with whom she grants pres- 
ence. With these joy is in the most congenial 
relation, and whose presence gives such a 
round of sweet delights that all really become 
spiritually intoxicated with heavenly nectar. 

To those unsympathetic to virtue, valor, 
and holiness there would be no pleasure in 

35 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

such a gathering as the above personalities. 
The pig would not enjoy the company of the 
sheep; and neither will men of base passions 
appreciate the company of those who are pure 
in heart. Men who love the low life of the 
saloon can not enjoy the most spiritual meet- 
ing of prayer. It is impossible to conceive of 
more discomfort coming to a man who loves 
the life of sin's brothels than to compel him 
to sit through an evangelistic service where 
the purity of manhood and exaltation of the 
Lord Jesus Christ are the supreme themes. 
It might be just as bad if you would take a 
saint of light and compel him to sit for the 
same length of time among those whose lives 
are morgues of vice and pools of corruption. 
The life of joy is quickened in the human 
heart from love and faith by the dynamic of 
the Lord Jesus Christ acting through the 
Holy Spirit of God. He alone is able to 
bring it beyond an embryonic form and assure 
it life and beauty. After this joy has been 
awakened and quickened it begins to grow 

86 



THE GROUND ELEMENTS OF JOY 

and develop into that form which we after- 
wards so delightfully see. 

Some have compared this joy to a fountain 
which sends forth its waters to make pro- 
ductive the spiritual condition of those about 
and gladden the hearts of men who get but 
little of the direct rays of the Sun of Right- 
eousness. We should add that.it is no less 
gladdening to those who are already enjoy- 
ing the rays of "glory divine." 

"When the rock is smitten by the divine 
grace and power" of God, then this fountain 
sends forth its refreshing streams with all the 
exhilaration of angels of light. It was the 
life of joy which gave Bunyan his song in 
the prison cell; it gave Milton his spirit 
which could make him see "the fruits of that 
forbidden tree" in "Paradise Lost." It was 
joy that enabled Paul and Silas to sing in the 
jail at Philippi, and it is joy which enables all 
men to prosecute their work and be sustained 
even in trials most distressing. 

The joy of the Lord is the strength of man. 

87 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

When his heart is full of joy, man does 
not care if the wolf does stand at the door; 
he knows that the powers of grace stand at 
his side. External conditions have but little 
to do with a man who has the joy of God in 
his heart. 

"O joy, that seekest me through pain, 
I can not close my heart to thee; 
I trace the rainbow through the rain, 
And feel the promise is not vain 
That morn shall tearless be!" 



88 



Happiness and Joy 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

The terms "happiness" and "joy" are fre- 
quently used as synonymous. That there is 
quite a difference in their meanings will be 
apparent if the attempt now- undertaken 
proves successful. We secured the following 
distinctions from Webster's, one of our best 
dictionaries : 

Happiness — "An agreeable feeling or condition of 
the soul arising from good fortune or propitious 
happenings of any kind; the possession of those 
circumstances or that state of being which is at- 
tended with enjoyment; the state of being happy; 
contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessed- 
ness." 

Joy — "The passion or emotion excited by the acqui- 
sition or expectation of good ; pleasurable feelings 
or emotions caused by success, good fortune, and 
the like, or by a rational prospect of possessing 
what we love or desire; gladness; exhilaration of 
spirits; delight." 

While it is true that there are many condi- 
tions very much in common in these two 

9 1 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

terms, yet there is the difference that exists 
primarily between "agreeable feeling or con- 
dition" and that of "the passion or emotion 
excited." Happiness is a surface affair in 
comparison, while joy is as deep as the life 
itself. 

It is no occasion for wonder at the false 
distinctions which have arisen between, or 
rather have not risen between, these two 
terms. When we recall that the nearest ap- 
proach the world comes to joy is in happi- 
ness, we can see how it is that it has never 
occurred to them that there is something of 
which they have not conceived. While it is 
true that happiness does include many of the 
elements of joy, yet joy, being the more ex- 
tensive term, includes the merits of happiness. 

Joy covers the whole field of happiness, 
and then more. The life of joy has only been 
touched when the whole of happiness has been 
covered. 

The getting and possessing may bring hap- 
piness to us, while these things will never 
produce joy. Happiness flourishes most on 

92 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

getting and possessing. To hold that joy 
comes frcm these sources would bespeak a 
woeful ignorance as to the elements of joy. 
"The quality of the day determines the joy 
of the day," says George Hodges in "The 
Pursuit of Happiness." That is just exactly 
the difference; joy is determined in the main 
by quality, and happiness by quantity. 

When we accumulate we are happy. Joy 
has nothing to do with accumulating. It 
seeks better company. The life of joy re- 
alizes that one might gain great possessions, 
and yet fail in the very thing upon which his 
heart should be most set. 

Bunyan was in all likelihood not happy 
while inured in Bedford jail; but that he had 
joy, no one can deny. The "Pilgrim's Prog- 
ress" shows him outside the prison walls, 
walking and talking with the great ones of 
earth and the saints of heaven. 

No man will likely be happy when his 
dearest friend is taken away in death, but that 
may be the most joyous moment of his life. 
At one time a faithful minister visited an old 

93 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

woman who had just been bereft of her life 
companion. Instead of finding her broken in 
body and spirit, as he had thus expected to 
find her, she was full of joy. When he ex- 
pressed his surprise at finding her in such a 
frame of mind she was as surprised as he had 
been. She then told him of her faith in God, 
of her husband's confidence in Christ, and 
that it was an occasion of great joy, although 
one of sadness. She then dropped one of the 
choicest bits of philosophy: "I am unhappy 
at my own loss; I have joy unspeakable be- 
cause of what he has gained." 

Happiness comes from getting, gaining, 
holding, possessing; joy comes from being, 
serving, giving, trusting. Men are happy 
when their works succeed; happy when they 
can sit on the top of the ladder and sing their 
well-earned song of triumph. Men have joy 
when they give up something they prize real 
highly. They are never so full of joy as when 
they have given themselves wholly in service 
to mankind and their loyalty to Christ and to 

94 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

humanity. Given their all; when they can 
say, 

"All to Jesus I surrender, 
All to leave and follow Thee; 
I will ever love and serve Thee." 

At this point is where Jesus Christ is worth 
more to a man than at any other, save in the 
great salvation He confers upon the soul. 
This being true, it then follows that next to 
the great enrichment in the soul of man when 
he gives his heart to Jesus, man has the 
greatest joy when he leads some other soul to 
Jesus Christ. When he leads some soul from 
darkness to the light of the glorious liberty 
of the gospel of Christ he has the fullest joy. 
And next to the joy of leading some soul to 
Christ is the joy occasioned by doing some- 
thing worthy of the life of dignity and worth 
of a sanctified character in Christ. Thus 
merit brings joy. 

Let us not think that we deprecate the idea 
of happiness; far from it. Happiness is a 
thing by no means to be despised. It is a 

95 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

blessing we all should aspire to realize. To 
be unhappy is no indication of a virtuous life; 
and, on the other hand, the being happy is 
no sign whatever of a voluptuous life. Being 
happy is not infrequently the result of a life 
of earnest endeavor in the realm of the beau- 
tiful graces. 

To be happy is a condition we should all 
desire to attain. It is worth all the effort 
we can put forth to possess it. Whatever be 
the righteous means to obtain it, there we 
should tarry until we be fully filled with its 
fullness and glory. The following lines fur- 
nish a very suggestive course to pursue: 

"If happy thou dost wish to be 
Come, listen while I tell to thee 

The thing that thou must do. 
To-morrow's cares fling far away 
And live within the present day, 

Just as it comes to you. 

"If backward looking thou dost see 
Some foolish thing once done by thee, 

Give heed to what I say: 
Do n't linger long upon the sight, 
But bring to view some object bright, 

And try to look that way. 

9 6 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

"The buried past do not recall, 
The future yet is not at all ; 

Our days we live but one: 
Then hail the present as a friend, 
And speed it on unto the end, 
'T is thus the thing is done." 

— Rev J. L. Scott. 

Happiness and the material things usually 
go together; the intellectual and spiritual 
things are the companions of joy. "Happi- 
ness is principally a creature of our own cre- 
ation. It can not be communicated from 
without, nor put on like a garment; neither 
is it proportioned to rational activity and in- 
creases with it." Happiness is too often 
synonymous with sensual pleasures. 

Some persons can never enjoy a thing unless 
it has cost some one else an outlay of service. 
The old feudal system in England and the 
days of slavery in this country are forceful 
examples of such a feeling. It is no uncom- 
mon thing now to see very good people 
wholly dependent upon the servitude of 
others. 

Many things we eat and wear without any 

97 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

thought whatever as to what they have cost 
some one before they came to us. We never 
eat a piece of meat but an animal lost its life 
to give it. No lady wears a coat of fur but 
many animals died to give it her. Did we 
think of these things, it would detract con- 
siderably from our happiness. Such things 
never could give us a particle of joy. A man 
may be happy in being served. There may 
be a certain pleasure he derives in seeing other 
people respond to his nod and beck; but if 
joy is expected he must loose himself from 
all such things and become himself a servant. 
He that is greatest in this world is the servant 
of the most. Thus servitude lies in the path 
of the greatest advancement of the race and 
of the individual. 

The dignity of service has been almost 
completely hid. To be served has been the 
demand of the world. The call of Jesus is 
to service. Serve ye one another, with a 
hand-clasp close and tender. 

The joy of service is but little known. We 
get so many selfish motives between our hearts 

9 8 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

and our truest blessing that we are unable to 
see the highest good when it comes. Miss 
Havergal's poem should be written upon our 
hearts in the most legible characters. 

"Take my life and let it be 

Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. 

Take my moments and my days; 
. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 

'Take my hands, and let them move 
At the impulse of Thy love. 
Take my feet, and let them be 
Swift and beautiful for Thee. 

"Take my voice, and let me sing 
Always, only, for my King. 
Take my lips, and let them be 
Filled with messages from Thee. 

"Take my silver and my gold; 
Not a mite would I withhold. 
Take my intellect, and use 
Every power as Thou shalt choose. 

"Take my will, and make it Thine; 
It shall be no longer mine. 
Take my heart, it is Thine own; 
It shall be Thy royal throne. 

99 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

"Take my love; my Lord, I pour 
At Thy feet its treasure-store. 
Take myself, and I will be 
Ever, only, all for Thee." 

The condition of the early Christian mar- 
tyrs brings out one true idea of joy. In the 
deep joy of their souls they could sing praises 
to Almighty God and rejoice with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory. They were in- 
deed full of joy that they were considered 
worthy to die for the sake of their Christ and 
because of their relations to Him. While 
their bodies were being consumed by the cruel 
flames their spirits had joy in the hope of 
an eternal life. They were deprived of hap- 
piness, but their souls had an abiding joy. 

Look at the inclosures of happiness and 
joy. Happiness is of short range, while joy 
is very extensive. Happiness comes alone 
from outer forces, while joy comes almost 
wholly from the inner. Happiness grows 
only by the incoming of its elements, while 
there is a rebound to joy which makes even 

ioo 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

all its sacrifices sweet sirens of heavenly music 
and harmonious accords of divine grace. 

The matter of getting does make or mar 
happiness. With joy it has little, if any, in- 
fluence. In fact, I am not greatly convinced 
that possessions have much influence even 
with producing any real and lasting happi- 
ness. An old Irish laborer once said, "The 
truth is, the poorer ye are the happier ye are." 
While the full meaning of the statement is 
not true, yet it has some elements of truth 
in it. 

The holding of wealth does not bring us 
many of the delights of the present life. 
Some one has said, " Wealth crushes out as 
many flowers as it tends." 

The highest happiness can go is in things : 
in stocks, bonds, money, houses, lands, horses, 
automobiles, dress, show; while with joy these 
are only accidental. They may be very pleas- 
ant to possess, yet the possessor is all the time 
conscious that only the intellectual and spir- 
itual give chief delights. Joy being a spir- 

IOI 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

itual quality, it is not affected by material 
things. 

The disturbed condition of the atmosphere 
does not affect the thermometer only indi- 
rectly; nor does heat directly affect the barom- 
eter. It is likewise true in regard to the af- 
fection of joy. It is lowered and heightened 
and extended alone by that with which it 
is in relation. There being no sympathetic 
cord connecting it with material things, it 
is not in sympathetic relation with them. Its 
affections are in spiritual things. Joy is 

"Like a high-born maiden 

In a palace tower, 
Pouring her love-laden 

Soul in secret hour 
With music sweet as love, 

Which overflows her bower." 

As the last illustration I shall use to point 
out the deficiency of consideration of writers 
to the distinction between happiness and joy 
I quote from John Norris in "The Parting :" 

102 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

"How fading are the joys we dote upon! 

Like apparitions seen and gone; 
But those which soonest take their flight 

Are the most exquisite and strong, — 
Like angels' visits, short and bright, 

Mortality 's too weak to bear them long." 

Every man has difficulties trying to satisfy 
his higher nature and at the same time trying 
to please himself. St. Paul had some expe- 
rience along the line of trying to please him- 
self and at the same time satisfy the highest 
life of his soul. He said, "When I would 
do good, evil is present with me." This ex- 
perience of Paul has been verified in the life 
of every person both before and since his day. 
When a man would do good, evil is not far 
distant. 

It is strange that when a man seeks a thing 
that is alone good, it often evades him. 
When a man does what he should, regardless 
of the results, these same things, together 
with many others of a like pleasing nature, 
come to him. The acquirement of the 
graces of life are difficult of discernment. 

103 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

This is entirely true when a man sets out 
to get joy through pleasing himself. The 
best in life never comes from self-pleasing. 
Joy is no exception to this common expe- 
rience. To please the self is to belittle 
the self. Man is above his own personal 
whims. Yet there is a sense in which the self 
must by all means be pleased. Pleased in 
principles rather than in separate acts or pos- 
sessions is the high imperative of the soul. 
A man who bows to his own self-pleasing has 
lowered himself beneath his own dignity. So 
there must be a real rising of the self above 
mere happiness. 

The very conditions of manhood call for 
the conformity of certain high requirements. 
These standards are of the greatest value in 
the make-up of the character of that particu- 
lar individual. Should he lap on himself or 
drop from his manly estate, he will ever after- 
wards rue his move. To be all the time on 
the high estate of one's own character is the 
way to really gain still greater possessions 
of character and joy. 

104 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

There is one passage of Scripture* which is 
expressive on this point and which has been 
of great benefit to me personally. "But none 
of these things move me, neither count I my 
life dear unto myself, so that I might finish 
my course with joy." Had happiness been 
the paramount issue, he would have neither 
finished his course nor received the joy which 
was his to acquire. 

One thing which eliminates the self-pleas- 
ing life from the association of the life of 
joy is the short range at which it acts. One 
of the deepest conditions of the life of joy 
is the full sweep of its range. It is extensive 
as well as intensive. It plows as well as gath- 
ers the harvest. The life of joy looks far 
down the line of all its possibilities. It asks 
of all the rich graces of life, "If any have 
been missed, will they please hold up their 
hands." One of its chief functions is to cor- 
ral the forces of life into one glorious and 
beautiful whole. 

In the march of Xenophon, of which we 
are told in the "Anabasis," there were a great 
105 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

many hardships which those on the march 
had to undergo. Often there was mutiny in 
the camp. Then it fell to that old, experi- 
enced leader of men to unravel a little more 
of the journey. As he would tell them of 
his purpose, their zeal and vigor would be 
aroused, their interests quickened, and they 
would proceed with renewed courage and en- 
thusiastic valor. 

The trouble was that the men could not 
see beyond their present hardships. The fu- 
ture was to them an unopened book. Only 
"today" interested them. A superior mind 
had to make plain some of the plans of the 
campaign. All that concerned them was 
what was on their side of the hill. The be- 
yond was of no interest. 

Had not Xenophon forgotten himself he 
would never have been able to make the mu- 
tinous soldiers forget themselves ; and but for 
the banishing of self-pleasing, there would 
never have been an "Anabasis" and, of 
course, no possibility of seeing "The Sea." 
Had they pleased themselves and sought hap- 
piness alone, the march of Xenophon would 

106 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

never have been made and the joy of its suc- 
cessful accomplishment would not have been 
theirs. 

Just so is it with us in all our great and 
small undertakings. We get nowhere by self- 
pleasing. We attain only by forgetting our- 
selves. Since we can not get on in even the 
smallest of life's activities by self-pleasing, we 
will find it really impossible to please our- 
selves and at the same time have in our souls 
the roots of the deepest joy. 

Joy does not come from experiences of the 
moment. Neither is joy dependent upon the 
outer conditions of the life. The storms may 
rage without; bleak winds, howling wolves, 
dark night, and poverty within, yet there may 
be the greatest joy in the heart. There is but 
little joy save by way of Calvary and Gol- 
gotha. Self-renunciation rather than self- 
pleasing is the slogan of joy. 

"Privation, sorrows, bitter scorn, 
The life of toil, the mean abode, 
The faithless kiss, the crown of thorn, — 
Are these the consecrated road?" 

107 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

"It is a poor sort of happiness that could 
ever come by caring very much about our 
own pleasures. We can only have the highest 
happiness, such as goes along with being a 
great man, by having wide thoughts and 
much feeling for the rest of the world as 
well as ourselves." If a woman with as little 
of the finer feelings of the real life should 
say so much, what ought a child of God really 
be able to say? 

There is no place w r here the true meaning 
of self-renunciation can be set over against 
self-pleasing so forcibly as in the family. 
Let either the husband or wife declare for 
self-pleasing. Let either say, "I will please 
myself first and live for myself first." Should 
such be the case, a breach arises between them 
which becomes wider and wider until the 
chasm is too wide for crossing. A man may 
by tyrannical force usurp all authority and 
become a veritable tyrant in his home. He 
may cower his family into beggarly submis- 
sion, so that they do not dare express them- 
selves ; but in doing that he has dropped from 

108 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

the dignity of being a husband and father 
into the niche where beasts live. He is no 
longer a man, but a brute. His manhood has 
flown. 

The finer relations are developed only 
when the other members of the union are 
pleased first. The truest life is realized when 
we designate for ourselves not* the first place, 
but that that place be accorded to others. 
Giving is as fine a grace in the life of joy 
as it is in any other of the graces of God. 
"It is by vision that the whole world is glori- 
fied, and we perceive that our life is lived in 
the midst of an environment which is the ap- 
propriate setting of the jewel of great joy." 
(George Hodges, in "The Pursuit of Happi- 
ness.") 

The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ reached 
the heights of his life through self-abnega- 
tion. "Jesus Christ, who, being in the form 
of God, thought it not robbing to be equal 
with God, but made Himself of no reputa- 
tion, took upon Him the form of a servant, 
and was made in the likeness of men ; and be- 
8 109 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

ing found in fashion as a man, He humbled 
Himself and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross; wherefore God 
also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him 
a name which is above every name: that at 
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and 
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

Just as it is that the pleasing of the flesh 
could not be practiced by Jesus and gain the 
fullness of the Godhead bodily, so we can 
not attain to the full spiritual life and please 
ourselves. The man who sets out in life to 
please himself will soon come to grief. 

We might just as well get accustomed to 
please others first, as it is the only way for 
us to ascend the ladder of fame, fortune, edu- 
cation, or the culture of the spiritual life. 
Well did the poet say, 

"We rise on our dead selves to higher things/' 

Some persons think that Jesus Christ was 
a monstrosity in the world, and that there is 
no place for Him in the conceptions of men. 

no 



HAPPINESS AND JOY 

There is no truer condition in all this world 
than that mankind needs just such an One 
as Jesus Christ. The sooner we realize that 
we are the creatures of those on whom we de- 
pend, the better it will be for us. There is but 
very little direct life in this world. We gain 
our lives not by saving them, but by losing 
them. The man who would- save his life 
must lose it. We pour our lives into the 
hearts of others, and they in turn put their 
life into ours. That man is very near the true 
principle of living who says and means — 

"I live for those about me, 

For those who know me true, 

For the heaven that smiles above me, 

And the good that I can do." 

Giving is the true principle of life, no mat- 
ter in what realm it may be considered. We 
must first expend what we have before more 
will be given. The real difference between 
the Dead and Caspian Seas is not in what 
is received, but in what is given out. It is 
not what goes into the man which defiles or 
enriches the life, but that which comes out. 
in 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

"Life evermore is fed by death, 
In earth and sea and sky; 
And that a rose may breathe its breath, 
Something must die. 

"The milk-white heifer's life must pass, 
That it may feed our own, 
As passes the sweet life of the grass 
She fed upon." — J. G. Holland. 

Thus happiness passes almost before it has 
begun. Life is too high and too sacred to be- 
come the great ship driven whithersoever the 
governor (Happiness) listeth. The deepest 
meanings of which men are able to compre- 
hend are to be placed upon life. These mean- 
ings must be reckoned in the light of God's 
eternal truth. And when these meanings are 
acted upon by a manhood of sterling charac- 
ter, every force of earth and heaven yields 
vibration. 



112 



Religion and Joy 



RELIGION AND JOY 

The feeling is among a certain class of people 
that religion and gloominess are one and the 
same thing. Such a conception of religion is 
certainly quite foreign to the religion of 
Christ. The annunciation of the angels and 
the spirit of Christianity as manifest in every 
period of the Christian Church has attested 
quite a contrary condition. 

The angels sang, u Glory to God in the 
highest, on earth peace; good will to all 
men." The spirit of Christianity is found 
in these words of Isaac Watts: 

"Joy to the world! the Lord is come: 
Let earth receive her King; 
Let every heart prepare Him room, 
And heaven and nature sing. 

"Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns 
Let men their songs employ; 
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains 
Repeat the sounding joy. 

115 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

"No more let sin and sorrow grow, 
Nor thorns infest the ground; 
He comes to make His blessings flow 
Far as the curse is found. 

"He rules the world with truth and grace, 
And makes the nations prove 
The glories of His righteousness 
And wonders of His love." 

There is no truth in this world more cer- 
tain than that religion and the life of joy 
are not only complimentary terms, but insep- 
arable in their very nature. 

There may have been those who know 
equally much about both religion and joy, 
but there has never been any one who has 
more beautifully portrayed the soul than did 
the "Sweet Singer of Israel." Only two pas- 
sages need be cited: "Thou wilt show me the 
path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of 
joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for 
evermore." (Psa. 16: n.) "In Thy name 
shall they rejoice all the day: in Thy right- 
eousness shall they be exalted." (Psa. 89:16.) 

Religion is in no sense sad and gloomy. 
None familiar with the religion of Jesus 

116 



RELIGION AND JOY 

Christ could think of calling it morose. Jesus 
Himself says: "My joy in you, and your joy 
full." Does that sound like Jesus intends 
driving us out of the temple of joy with a 
whip of cords? None so rejoice as does the 
Master when He finds His joy full in us. 

Joy is the very soul and experience of re- 
ligion. If ever a sad note is- found in the 
professed religion of Christ, you may decide 
at once that it is entirely false. No sadness 
or gloom will ever be allowed companionship 
with the other, and true notes as sweet de- 
lights which bespeak the greatest degree 
of joy. 

There is no sphere in all the world in which 
joy occupies such a conspicuous place as in 
the religion of Christ. If you take into ac- 
count the joy many of the disciples have, it 
would appear that Jesus did not intend His 
own Christ-hid to have anything but joy. 
Jesus said, "I am come that ye might have 
life, and that ye might have it abundantly." 
What does that mean but that Christ intends 
for us the fullness of joy. 

There is no sad note even in what is called 
117 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

the sacrifice of Christ. Sacrifice is the foun- 
dation of joy. 

"Hark! the voice of love and mercy 
Sounds aloud from Calvary; 
See, it rends the rocks asunder, 
Shakes the earth, and veils the sky. 

" 'It is finished !' Oh, what pleasure 
Do these precious words afford! 
Heavenly blessings without measure 
Flow to us from Christ the Lord." 

Real spiritual exhilaration belongs to the 
religion of Christ. All that a man needs to 
get him to shout for joy is to get enough of 
the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart. He will 
shout and praise God so long as he can speak, 
when the Holy Spirit speaks peace to his soul. 
But, 

" 'T is man's perdition to be safe, 
When for the truth he ought to die." 

The whole spiritual life may be made to 
quake with holy reverence occasioned by the 
incoming of the sweetness of the joy of eter- 
nal life. Joy is the health of the spiritual life. 

118 



RELIGION AND JOY 

It is its buoyancy, its halo, its perfect delight. 
It is the marrow of sweetness and the heart 
of the soul. 

There are no marred portions whatever in 
Christianity. If there should appear any im- 
perfection in the followers of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, it is not the fault of the Christ. It 
has its source in some other quarter. 

Censure not Christ for flaws observable in 
the character of His people. He not only 
gave us a perfect example, but gave a perfect 
sacrifice. However, we are not saved because 
we have a perfect character, but through the 
precious blood of Christ are we saved. We 
never become our own savior; Christ alone is 
that. But we will never be saved without our 
character formed beautiful and strong. 

Christ has made the amplest provision for 
all who are to pass along the Christian way. 
His plan is that they go with ease and agility. 
There is no sledding, no despairing; no mire 
or bogs. If only those pressing on will per- 
form that which is possible, they shall run 
a most satisfactory race. Neither is the race 
119 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

to the swift nor to the strong, but to that 
one who holds on to Christ with a living 
grasp. 

Who could doubt the extreme richness of 
the life of joy when the Master has said, 
u These things have I spoken unto you, that 
ye might have joy?" Of what other quality 
in life could He thus have spoken? It is 
needless to say that Jesus used words of the 
strongest meaning. He meant something 
very emphatic and powerful and refreshing. 

Let us look for a moment at self-denial. 
There is certainly great need of some closer 
thinking on this matter. I do not deny my- 
self the privilege of making one dollar when 
the taking another work of no more outlay 
and just as pleasant that by so doing I can 
make five dollars. I do not deny myself a 
little amusement when it is not over-healthful 
in itself, while on the other hand I can be do- 
ing something of a health-giving nature, 
while I would have been doing that which is 
less important. 

What do we mean by self-denial? The 
120 



RELIGION AND JOY 

denying of the self something which it thinks 
it has a right to expect. Now let us look at 
it from a common-sense standpoint. We do 
not call it self-denial when we undergo a great 
many inconveniences and endure many hard- 
ships that we may get an education. If I did 
not go to college I could have a horse and 
buggy, a piece of land, some money in the 
bank; might have a wife and some children, 
and be considered a man worth while ; might 
even be elected to office. But I have set my 
mind on acquiring an education. I go to 
college ; I go to professional school ; I spend 
seven years in getting ready for work; I come 
out of school one thousand dollars in debt, 
where, had I remained at home, I would 
have, perhaps, that amount to my credit. But 
within a very brief time I am equal in my 
financial standing with the fellow who did 
not go to college. The gain over the other 
condition is continually becoming more and 
more. Now, has there been self-denial in 
going to college and spending money instead 
of making it, when I knew full well that it 
121 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

would come out to my gain eventually? 
Were such a consideration followed out, a 
man would not even eat, for by so doing he 
would wear away his teeth. If self-denial is 
acknowledged at all, it must be reckoned as 
one of the greatest blessings which comes to 
mankind. Even so-called drudgery is a bless- 
ing in disguise quite often. 

It becomes painful to hear some persons 
telling of their great sacrifice for the Savior. 
If I ever made a sacrifice for Christ I do not 
recall it. I do not believe I ever did. Fur- 
ther, I do not believe it possible to make a 
sacrifice for Christ. There is no sacrifice 
when we exchange our dollars for groceries 
and clothing. We do not sacrifice our minds 
when we draw them in from their wanderings 
and confine them upon difficult tasks. We 
do not sacrifice our pleasures when we with- 
hold them from some cheap amusement. We 
do not sacrifice our hearts when we give them 
to that One who will make us abound in the 
fullness of the most perfect peace and love 
of which mortals know. And neither do we 

122 



RELIGION AND JOY 

sacrifice for Christ when we lay aside some 
trivial thing in order that we may have eter- 
nal life with grace abounding. 

I have never done anything for Christ but 
what I well knew before it was done that I 
would receive a vast more than I could pos- 
sibly give to Him. It is true that I gave to 
Jesus and did service for Him because I loved 
Him, but that takes it out of the realm of 
self-denial and sacrifice. 

We all do acts for Jesus which we expect 
to be seed sown in the heart of Jesus. We 
expect that these acts shall add to our joys 
here and our eternal welfare after this life 
is over. And it may not be amiss to say that 
we even do some things because we know that 
Jesus will reward us for them. 

We have the assurance that Jesus will re- 
turn unto us full measure and in the end 
eternal life. He will do that for all His 
people. If we are faithful to Him we shall 
not alone be privileged to keep the talent He 
has committed to us, but we will receive the 
added blessing of His love and life. 
123 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

It is more than likely that we will receive 
manifold gain for all the seed we sow. In 
this I am quite confident. Can I then say I 
have sacrificed for Jesus when I know in all 
certainty that I have done nothing of the 
kind? I believe my Master when He says 
anything; so when He says that He will re- 
turn unto us good measure, pressed down, and 
running over, for our expenditure, that settles 
it for me. I feel at least as confident in what 
He says to me as when a friend tells me he 
is going to do a certain thing at an appointed 
time. 

I do not at all mean this in a selfish man- 
ner. I simply wish to impress the fact that 
Christ will do more for us than we can even 
indicate we will do for Him. We need to 
get out of that dreadful rut of thinking that 
we can do things worth while without the co- 
operation of Christ. A passage of Scripture 
reads, "I can do all things through Christ." 
That means that with Christ all things can 
be done, but that without Christ nothing good 
can be done. " Without Me ye can do noth 

124 



RELIGION AND JOY 

ing." "If ye abide in Me and My words 
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it 
shall be done unto you." 

We further need to get away from the con- 
viction of some very good people that we 
can do many good things unseasoned by the 
grace of God; that the good acts we do 
are well pleasing in His sight. - "Well pleas- 
ing in His sight," when the heart from 
whence they came is not right with Him? 
Impossible. "Is the life more than meat, and 
the body more than raiment?" Is the gift of 
more value to God than is the giver? Away 
with such nonsense. Always bear in mind 
that "the gift without the giver is bare." 

To make self-denials and sacrifices for the 
Lord Jesus Christ is an absolute impossibility. 
Many of the people so claiming, did they but 
stop a moment and consider, would under- 
stand that they are doing that for which they 
expect more than they put into the service. 

I know of nothing in this world which is 
all profit. Some things come very near to so 
being, but never quite so. There is some 
9 125 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

place along the line where some expenditure 
is needed. Can we then say that there is self- 
denial practiced at that point where there is 
some little expenditure needed, and where 
there is no expenditure there is no sacrifice? 

A farmer may be compelled to return from 
the city with his empty wagon, without any 
compensation whatever from such carrying. 
It costs him considerable effort sometimes to 
do so without a return load ; can he complain 
that the journey home has been a hardship? 
That he is undergoing a sacrifice in returning 
to his family and his own cozy fireside? No; 
no, indeed ! He can not even wait in the city 
for a load to be gathered for him, but hastens 
home without the loss of a single hour. Sac- 
rifice? You can not convince him that he 
has sacrificed anything. 

There may be acts in the Christian life 
which border on what we may be given to 
call sacrifice. But can they be such if they 
are in the way of a larger, fuller, happier, 
or more efficient life? Is it a sacrifice to do 
a thing where if the leaving the thing undone 

126 



RELIGION AND JOY 

would endanger not only our lives but our 
souls? It beggars a man to perform a deed, 
feeling it to be a self-denial, when he should 
do an act of the greatest magnanimity and 
gratitude. 

Throughout our whole lives there should 
run the very best spirit possible. Altruism 
should course us through and through. We 
should all the time understand that Jesus 
Christ does everything for us which we will 
allow Him to do, and that it becomes us as 
men to fulfill our part in the Christian regime. 

Then we should take into) account all that 
Christ returns to us for some little expendi- 
ture we make. Some little act for one of 
His children is done; an act so small that it 
would take a microscope to see it; yet the 
Lord floods our heart with so much joy that 
we can hardly contain ourselves from the joy 
He pours into it. Then think of sacrificing 
for either Jesus or man ! It is the vagary of 
an insane person or a religious fanatic. 

Who ever heard of a man complaining of 
sacrificing for his family? You can often 
127 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

hear a man telling of the hardships his wife 
and children make for him; of the denials 
they practice in order that he may do a cer- 
tain thing; but you will never hear complain- 
ings from a man who possesses the genuine 
life. A man would not be a man, but a per- 
fect wretch, who would do kind acts to his 
family in the spirit of self-denial. Such a 
spirit does not belong to the true family life. 
Neither will any one whose life is hid with 
Christ in God feel that he is not getting in- 
finitely more joy out of the religious life than 
he is at all able to put into it in service and 
devotion and worship. 

The words of the lamented and honored 
Spurgeon should hold our attention for a 
moment: "The believer's life has its sweets, 
and these are of the choicest; for what is 
sweeter than honey? What is more joyful 
than the joy of a saint? What is more happy 
than the happiness of a believer? I will not 
condescend to make a comparison between 
our joy and the mirth of fools. I will go 
no farther than a contrast. Their mirth is 

128 



RELIGION AND JOY 

as the crackling of thorns under a pot, which 
spit fire and make a noise and a flash, but 
there is no heat, and they are soon gone out. 
Nothing comes from it, and the pot is long 
in boiling. But the Christian's delight is like 
a steady coal fire. You have seen the grate 
full of coals all burning red, and the whole 
mass of coal has seemed to be one great 
glowing ruby; and everybody who has come 
into the room out of the cold has delighted 
to warm his hands, for it gives out a steady 
heat and warms the body even to its marrow. 
Such are our joys. I would sooner possess 
the joy of Christ five minutes than I would 
revel in the mirth of fools for half a century. 
There is more bliss in the tear of repentance 
than in the laughter of gayety; our holy 
sorrows are sweeter than the worldling's 
joys." 

None complain of doing the things of 
goodness and love but those inferior in char- 
acter. The man who revels in the sphere of 
the higher life knows that the glories of 
Christ are of more worth than all the world 
129 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

beside. The great difficulty is that "the car- 
nal mind is not subject to the laws of God; 
neither, indeed, can it be." This being the 
case, proper values can by no means have 
their proper places. Did the things of the 
spirit rule in our hearts instead of the things 
of the carnal life, we would have a surer base 
for all the higher activities of life. Do not 
fail to remember, friend, that "The wages of 
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life 
through Jesus Christ the Lord." 

A man once traded a horse for a cheap re- 
volver. That which he received was worth 
no more than two dollars, while the horse was 
kept in remunerative service for several years 
and then sold for seventy-five dollars. We 
are too willing to barter our souls on much 
the same fashion. For the little sum of a 
few cheap pleasures some are willing to let 
slip the keys of the eternal Kingdom. 

Robert Louis Stevenson offered this prayer, 
which should be given by all: u Lord, ckliver 
us from mean hopes and cheap pleasures." 
The sting of to-day is "nickeldom" and 

130 



RELIGION AND JOY 

"pennydom," both as pertains to pleasures 
and the making a life. 

If we will but post ourselves on the worth 
of the riches of the spiritual life as well as 
we inform ourselves upon the stock markets, 
we will find that there is the opportunity in 
the life of religion for making far greater 
"margins" than are to be found in the "pit." 
Even though a man should always be success- 
ful and really gain a great financial fortune, 
yet, "What is a man profited if he shall gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul?" 
The soul of man is not so worthless as some 
seem to think. And material possessions do 
not enrich us much. 

Men are anxious to get up in the world. 
They will barter and trade and scheme in 
order that there may be certain privileges 
open to them. The occupying of any certain 
place is neither for nor against the man ; what 
is of importance is that whatever place is 
occupied that it may be held by genuine worth 
and from the power of character. 

There is no higher position in life than 

J 3i 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

the being able to stand worthily in the station 
occupied. Too many are wanting to get into 
the other man's pew. That should be of 
little concern to us. The section hand on the 
railroad is just as important in his place as 
the "railroad magnate" is in his. "He that 
sweeps a house as by my laws, makes that and 
the action fine." 

Neither do we count those at our side of 
sufficient worth. There is a little stanza 
which runs, 

"The light which shines farthest 
Shines brightest at home." 

The man who does the most in life and ful- 
fills his station best is the one who is content 
to widen the borders of the abode in which 
God has placed him and develop the life most 
in the vicinity where he abides. Occasionally 
there is a man who can get into a larger 
sphere "over yonder" and make it a success; 
but more often is it true that success is found 
on the other line of procedure. 

132 



RELIGION AND JOY 

''I count it truth with him who sings 
In one clear note of divers tongues, 
That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things." 

This is the price of success. Who will pay 
cash for it? 

When we are disturbed by the comparative 
values of the things of the flesh and the 
things of God, we would do well to turn to 
the words of Rutherford: "Think you it will 
be a small honor to stand before the throne 
of God and the Lamb, and be clothed in 
white, and be called to the marriage supper 
of the Lamb, and to be led to the 'fountain 
of living waters,' and to come to the well- 
head, and even God Himself, and get your fill 
of the clear, cold, refreshing waters of life, — 
the King's own well, and to put up your own 
hand to the tree of life, and take down and 
eat the sweetest apple in all God's heavenly 
paradise, — Jesus Christ, your life and your 
Lord? Up, your heart! Shout for joy." 

When men understand the true force of re- 

133 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

ligion they will no longer consider it anything 
but containing the most delightful of all the 
souPs experiences. Men of the keenest intel- 
lects, men of the finest sensibilities have been 
free to thus express themselves. Were religion 
anything but most savory to the human spirit, 
would men hold it so dear to their hearts? 
By what contrivance of the fancy could one 
hold to a thing which was morose and full 
of unfulfilled hope? 

Religion is joy, and joy is religion; that is, 
there is no joy without religion. There may 
pass ripples of delight over the soul of the 
godless person, but it simply tells them of 
what they could enjoy did they give their lives 
wholly to God and be concerned with the 
things of Jesus Christ. 

The fact is that religion is so full of joy 
that u how can we keep from singing?" is 
upon the lips oif all, and that all the time. 

u In the face of all petty vexations and com- 
plaints of the rigors of religion let us remem- 
ber Paul and Silas in the inner dungeon of 
the Philippian jail, singing songs for glad- 

134 



RELIGION AND JOY 

ness of heart, and with them a great multi- 
tude, which no man could number, some of 
them with haloes and some without, to whom 
religion had brought light in the darkness. 
They were in pain of body or of mind, hope- 
lessly remote from any of those paths of hap- 
piness along which people go when skies are 
fair and walking good. The flood had come, 
waves and storms had gone over them. Then 
this path opened, with crosses for guideposts. 
Into it they entered, and on it led, through all 
manner of tribulation, even through the val- 
ley of death, into joy unspeakable and full 
of glory." (Hodges, in "The Pursuit of 
Happiness.") 

"Come, we that love the Lord, 
And let our joys be known; 
Join in the song with sweet accord 
And thus surround the Throne.' ' 



135 



The Exceeding Joy 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

The deepest joy of which mortals know is 
that which comes by being in vital, sympa- 
thetic relations with God through Jesus 
Christ. This was the manifest purpose in the 
coming of Christ, and the purpose of the 
Church of Christ of all kinds and creeds to- 
day is the same supreme end. To be in God 
is joy unmixed and full of glory. 

While the joy of the soul in having a har- 
monious relation with God is supernatural, 
yet it is not unnatural. Man is never really 
himself until he comes to the point of su- 
preme joy by being hid with Christ in God. 
If it means as much as the poet has said to 
spend one hour before the throne of God, 
what must it be to have His peace and joy 
flooding our souls continually. 

"O the pure delight of a single hour, 
That before Thy throne we spend, 
When we bow in earnest prayer 

And commune as friend with Friend." 

139 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

The psalmist who gave the words which 
form the basis for the heading of this chap- 
ter had positive knowledge of what God 
means to the human heart. Had he not tried 
God? Had He not kept him from the 
enemy? Had not God pleaded His cause 
against an unholy nation? Had not God 
kept him from the unjust and deceitful man? 
Had not God been his strength on many oc- 
casions? Had not God sent out His light 
and truth to lead him when all was dark and 
he knew not which way to go? Had he not 
been brought to the Holy Hill and the taber- 
nacle of God? Had he not been at the altar 
of God and there found "God, my exceeding 
joy?" 

The test of everything is in its final issues. 
Many things look good, but the ways thereof 
are not good. Here is something of the very 
finest quality and most salubrious strength. 
But can all have that of which we are speak- 
ing? 

Yes, we can find God in every place; the 
140 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

psalmist found Him everywhere ; and we can 
find God just as full of jay to impart and as 
willing to give as has any one in any time. 
He is not a changeable God, that He will not 
incline Himself always to His people. He is 
more ready to give than we are to receive 
from Him. He will open His heart to us 
even before we ask Him. "And it shall come 
to pass that before they call I will answer; 
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." 
(Isa. 65: 24.) 

Man never forgets God, only when in his 
sinful state. Some one tells the story of a 
wanderer on the earth, driven from home by 
an angry father. After years of wandering 
he returned to his own city to see his father 
again before he died. Lacking courage, he 
starts out of the city again, but near the city 
gates he meets the disciple John. He is told 
of the father's great love for the son and his 
desire to see him before he dies. The son 
goes into the presence of the father and re- 
ceives his parting blessing. The joy of that 

141 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

occasion flooded the hearts of the whole 
household and bespoke of the greater love of 
God for all His children. 

The redeemed man can not sing the praises 
of God enough. u His praise shall continu- 
ally be in my mouth." That is the Christian 
spirit. I will lift up my heart and my voice 
to God, my exceeding joy. "I will lift up 
mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh 
my help." "I will pour out my soul within 
me." 

The original keyword of mankind was 
"joy." Before the pair was driven out of the 
Garden of Eden there was nothing but joy, 
and had sin not come in we would not know 
about anything but joy now. Had not Eden 
been transgressed, sin would not have entered 
and nothing but joy would have resounded 
all these years in the praise of men to 
God. 

God is ordained to be joy to the whole 
world, but His being joy or woe to the souls 
of men is conditioned on whether that soul 
is pure or base. If righteousness reigns in 

142 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

the soul, then God is joy; and 4f Christ is 
formed within the heart wholly, then God be- 
comes joy exceeding and glorious. 

In order for God to be the perfect joy, 
there must be the perfect recognition of God. 
We need also recognize man fully. These 
must be seen not as separate parts, but as a 
beautiful unity, brought together into a per- 
fect whole through Jesus Christ. If these are 
all bound together into one beautiful har- 
mony, then joy is the predominating charac- 
teristic. 

As long as man recognizes any lack of har- 
mony or the cessation of any of the spiritual 
parts, there can be no great progress in the 
development of the life of joy; and without 
progress there is decline. In the life of joy 
there is no ground on which we can stand 
neutral. We have to go "forward" or "back- 
ward." 

"Heaven is not reached at a single bound; 
We build the ladder on which we rise 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
And mount to its summit round upon round." 

H3 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

This by no means implies that a man must 
feel himself perfect in the grace of God. It 
does intend to make clear that a man must 
feel himself perfect in Christ. Paul, speak- 
ing upon this subject, said, "I am persuaded 
that neither life nor death shall separate us 
from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus." "My life flows on in endless song." 
That is the joy we can and should have. 

The glorious perfection of God should not 
overawe us. It accomplishes its task when it 
opens up in our hearts great fountains of joy. 
Just as when God told Moses to strike the 
rock, and on his complying the sweet, refresh- 
ing waters burst forth, so God tells the human 
heart to reach forth into the pierced hands 
and torn feet and rent side, and the most re- 
freshing fountains of water of life will burst 
forth with soul-refreshing richness. 

When this soul has had its ablution in the 
blood of Christ, and has felt the renewing 
effects of the works of grace, then it begins to 
gently sing: 

144 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

"O the precious love of Jesus, 
Growing sweeter day by day, 
Tuning all our hearts so joyous, 
With a heavenly melody." 

The more we drink from the fountain of 
God's love the more perfect we become. 
That is one of the functions of the Fountain 
of Life. Its work is not ended until we "pass 
sweeping through the gates into the beautiful 
city," and its glory is not completed so long 
as there is "one more day to sing God's 
praise." 

The more we feel the satisfaction of the 
Water of Life, the more efficient do we be- 
come, the more glory is placed upon us, and 
the more joy there is within us. This satisfy- 
ing quality is never absent from the Fountain 
Waters. 

We are all familiar with the peculiar quali- 
ties of water. Famous resorts have been 
gathered about some "watering place." 
Some become famous for one thing and 
others for another. Those afflicted with pe- 
145 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

culiar maladies betake themselves, or are 
taken, to that water which suits their own 
case. The peculiar quality about the Water 
of Life is that it heals from sin and helps us 
to grow in grace and in the knowledge and 
life of the Lord Jesus Christ, to give us all 
the fullness of the exceeding joy. So that the 
greatest watering place in all the world is 
the Fountain of Life, which flows hard by the 
throne of God. 

When we first begin to drink from that 
pure Spring our tastes are perverted and our 
appetites abnormal. Our systems have been 
filled with bile and venom, so that there is 
no naturalness about us. Our companions 
are used to the old springs from which vile 
contagion arises; and they keep to that old 
pond of sin and mock us that we do not 
longer resort thereto with them. 

If we do not at first feel that satisfaction 
which is desired, we should not become dis- 
couraged. We could hardly be expected to 
appreciate such radical change in our spiritual 
system. But we should set our faces stead- 

146 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

fastly toward the right and finally decide that 
this is no time "to turn back." To-day is the 
day of salvation. 

We should all the more confine ourselves 
to that which makes us like Christ. It is 
only to that one who has been a long user 
from the "Fountain of Life" that the heart 
in all tenderness cries: 

"O could I speak the matchless worth, 

could I show the glories forth 
Which in my Savior shine, 

1 'd soar and touch the heavenly strings, 
And vie with Gabriel while he sings 

In notes almost divine." 

When God comes into the heart He opens 
up the richest fountain from which men ever 
drink. It possesses all the medicinal qualities 
for the health of the people and the enerva- 
tion of mankind. There is no good quality 
whatsoever but is herein contained, and noth- 
ing bad whatsoever. It invigorates the soul, 
bestirs the action, replenishes the system, 
satisfies the craving, builds up the character, 
nourishes the hearts, saves the soul. 

147 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

God is likewise the opener of a mine of 
the richest wealth which marvels the most 
skillful of all the ministers of Christ. The 
transforming power of God in Christ is more 
than human beings can comprehend; but the 
new riches placed in the man's hand are no 
less wonderful. 

"Wonderful story of love! 

Tell it to me again; 
Wonderful story of love, 

Wake the immortal strain. 
Angels with rapture announce it; 
Shepherds with wonder receive it; 
Sinner, oh, won't you believe it, — 

Wonderful story of love." 

One Sunday morning there presented him- 
self at the morning service a man of very deep 
sin-cursed bearing. His every movement was 
that of a man very low in his moral and spir- 
itual life. He sought to be received into the 
Church. I asked him a few questions and 
found that the marks of sin were there be- 
cause the vile practices of the man had put 
them there. I noticed one member of the ex- 
amining body was very much affected. I later 

148 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

learned that this man's family was caring for 
the wife of this vile sinner. He had driven 
his pure wife from even the very inferior 
home she had and which had largely been 
made by the hard work of her own hands. 

An opportunity was given for a full re- 
vealing of the matter, and a most pitying con- 
dition was made manifest. -He told how he 
had gone in his downward way feeding his 
soul on the flames of the fiery regions, caring 
neither for anybody or anything, only when it 
would add to his sinful passions, but that 
Jesus arrested him in his mad career and won 
him back to Himself. I could not question 
his statements, but I did wonder what we 
could do for him. The man needed help in 
every way. We did the best thing we could 
have done; we commended him entirely to 
the love and mercy of God and received him 
into the Church and gave him the assistance 
he needed. He soon took his wife (God 
bless the forgiving wives ! ) into his own 
home, which his friends, or rather her 
friends, prepared, and to the best of his 
149 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

ability he set about to right the wrongs al- 
ready done and make restitution for his base 
acts. But how much better if he had never 
departed from the joy of God! We helped 
him to purify his life and get into sweeter re- 
lations with God. His life in time became 
beautiful in Christ, and his acts becoming a 
worthy profession. 

So long as the man can have pure thoughts 
about God he will have the presence of the 
Holy Spirit and the joy of God. To have 
impure thoughts about God, or even to have 
thoughts of an inferior nature about Him, 
bespeaks an unworthy character and a dis- 
graceful walk. u That ye may walk worthy 
of the vocation in which ye are called" is an 
ambition to which all Christians should 
aspire. 

Remembering God is one of the best ways 
for us to keep the exceeding joy of God in 
our hearts. To keep God in our minds is 
to love Him, and to love Him is to be loved 
by Him; and this produces joy. So both 
action and reaction help us. 

150 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

To be unmindful of God either by day 
or by night is to come short of the greatest 
joy in the world. "I will meditate upon Thee 
in the night watches" is as healthful exercise 
as to follow Him all day long. To medi- 
tate upon God upon our pillows is to make 
that pillow as soft as "downy pillows are," 
and to have real, sweet, refreshing, recuper- 
ating strength for the coming day. 

Persons who meditate upon God in the 
night watches are never somnambulists. 
Sleep is always at hand and refreshing when 
our hearts are right. Many persons who are 
troubled with sleepless nights and nervous 
disorders by day could find a most excellent 
remedy in allowing God to treat "the case." 

The proper answer to u Is thy heart right 
with God?" is more important than anything 
else in all this world; but how few take a 
serious look into this most important matter. 
One of the best-known pastors in this city, 
shepherding one of the most consecrated 
"flocks" in the city, said to me only a few 
days ago: "My people play with religion. 

I5i 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

When will the time come when men will be 
as much interested in the salvation of their 
souls as they are in the mart and forum ? 

" Remember that there is only one fountain 
of real joy. The fool can have no gladness; 
his life is an empty attempt to make himself 
glad. There is nothing in folly that can 
satisfy the soul, and the soul can never really 
eat and drink to its own nutrition and satis- 
faction except at the table of the Lord. We 
have taken our pitcher to many wells, and 
we have drawn from their depths nothing but 
crystal poison. We have accepted many an 
invitation to the feast spread by reason and 
by natural hospitality and by cunning inven- 
tion, and the more we have eaten the less 
satisfied we have become. 

"It is in vain to seek joy except in one 
direction. There is a fool's laugh that can be 
had cheaply enough; there are jests that will 
writhe the faces of ignorance into smiles that 
have in them no gladness; but if you would 
really be restored, if you would really be de- 
livered from desolation and sadness, behold 

152 



THE EXCEEDING JOY 

the Lamb of God." (Parker's -"People's 
Bible.") 

So many people are greatly disturbed about 
God's care and our own perplexities. Go 
to God. Keep God with you. He will set 
all things right. He will pass us out to our 
work again with the accompaniment of His 
own Holy Spirit. "Thou wilt show me the 
path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of 
joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures 
for evermore." 



153 



The Nurture of Joy 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

In the nurture of anything whatsoever there 
are other forces which must be taken into 
account just as well as those which directly 
pertain to that thing. There is nothing 
which abides alone. Does it so abide, it is 
dead and possesses no life whatsoever. 

Every form of life is a very complex thing. 
It calls for associations near or farther re- 
mote from the central point. On these it dis- 
tinctly relies. There are things which defi- 
nitely enter into other things. 

At one time I was presented with a small 
century plant. It was just before vacation 
time, when we would be away for the sum- 
mer. In some manner the plant was placed 
in a box that was to go to storage. On re- 
turning in the autumn, and the box was re- 
turned from its keeping, the century plant 
was found. It had one stem grown to more 
than a foot in length, about the size of a 

157 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

lead pencil, was as brittle as chalk and as 
white as a lily. As soon as it was brought to 
light it began to wither and soon died. 

You would not have suspected to what 
family this plant belonged. A healthy 
growth had been denied, yet it had some of 
the conditions for growth, and of these it 
had partaken. A small crevice in the lid of 
the box had furnished a tiny beam of sun- 
light, and upon this it had fed. It had 
reached out to the beam. The inherited na- 
ture of the plant called for more than was 
provided for it. 

As in the case of the plant, just so is it in 
regard to the proper nurture of anything. 
Joy in its nurture possesses the very same 
need. For symmetrical growth and the com- 
plete development of its nature the terms of 
that nature must be wholly complied with. 

The composition of joy being made up of 
a large variety of elements, it calls for a 
many-sided touching. Otherwise it would 
develop unsymmetrical. Everything is com- 
pelled to expand consistent with the elements 

i 5 8 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

entering into it and the life it already pos- 
sesses. Of all the phases of life there are 
none more exacting or more careful in the 
arrangements of its cohorts than is joy. It 
being so wholly dependent upon other forces 
compels it to take all precaution necessary to 
its own conservation. 

In the early part of the sixteenth century 
there was reported the finding of a fabled 
fountain in the New World, in which, did 
a man bathe, he would become young again. 
At that time there was a man in Spain who 
was in great need of finding just such a foun- 
tain. His name was Ponce de Leon. He 
was a noble Spaniard and ex-governor of 
Porto Rico. His fortune and fame had been 
wasted, and, acting in keeping with his need 
of that kind of a fountain, he set about to 
get to that delightful land. 

Ponce de Leon made all the necessary ar- 
rangements for embarking from his native 
land for this "blest abode of the men of 
fame." He set sail and on Easter Sunday 
reached the southern coast of North America. 
159 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

As soon as the voyager saw the beautiful 
land to which he had come, he felt confident 
that the true enchanted land had been found. 
The sights that met his eyes were beyond 
expression. Such beautiful flowers, singing 
birds, rich verdure, fine rivers he had never 
seen before. And because of all this he at 
once named the land "Florida." 

We can in our minds see the old man leap- 
ing from his vessel and going with abated 
breath on to the shore. Poor man ! Had he 
been seeking the true Fountain of youth he 
would have not made his voyage in vain, 
but he was looking for that "fountain in 
which, did a man bathe, he would be young 
again." Such a fountain was a myth, and, 
broken still more by one more added useless 
pursuit, he turned his face toward home, 
where new and greater inflictions await him. 

An old man, now broken in fortune and 
spirit, going home to make known the failure 
which was his. The once stirring blood now 
becomes sluggish and, his political life gone, 

160 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

his spirit becomes broken and his. ambition 
sinks into oblivion. Friends of his halcyon 
days desert him on the recount of his last 
defeat. Even insults are placed upon the 
once powerful man. This is certainly a pic- 
ture to make our hearts sick. But just such 
a fate was what came to Ponce de Leon, the 
once famous Spanish man of high affairs. 

When in search of earthly wealth or fame, 
we have to recount each achievement against 
us, even though we do in a measure succeed 
in that which we seek. Earthly happiness is 
like following some mirage or going in pur- 
suit of the rainbow's end. Should we find 
the end, we will find the bag of gold; but 
finding the end is the impossible task. 

The picture of this unfortunate man is re- 
peated in some measure in the lives of all 
mankind. "The Fountain of Perpetual 
Youth" charms us like some glorious image. 
We see it in our waking hours and dream of 
it while we sleep. Whether we travel or 
remain at home, this great boon is constantly 
161 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

before us. Could we but gain it we would 
not wish anything more. "O to be a child 
again just for to-night!" How sweet it 
sounds ! 

If we could but find this "Fountain of 
Youth" and bathe in its invigorating waters 
and become young again, we would ask no 
greater boon. Could we be at mother's knee 
or in the field with father, as we one time 
were wont, full of frolic and fun, full of 
vigor and vitality, full of exuberance and de- 
light, full of purity and sweet innocence — oh, 
I rest my pen; I can not proceed. Would 
it not be good? One otf the great scientists 
recalled this scene in these words: "I seem 
to have been a boy again, playing on the sea- 
shore and diverting myself with finding a 
smoother pebble or a prettier shell, while the 
great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered be- 
fore me." 

Prince von Bismarck was one of the most 
famous of the nineteenth century statesmen. 
As pertaining to the things of this world, 

162 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

there was nothing money could buy or honor 
bestow but was at his command. But as "all 
is not gold that glitters," so it is that not 
everything which seems to satisfy that does 
satisfy the deepest desires of our lives. This 
great man is reported to have said, "During 
my whole life I have not had twenty-four 
hours of happiness." 

At that time Bismarck was eighty-three 
years old. Wealth, glory, fame, prosperity, 
and power had been heaped high upon him. 
His name was spelled in capitals in every civ- 
ilized land ; but honor, influence, and triumph 
had been bestowed upon him in vain. "They 
had spent their fragrance upon the desert 
air," so far as making him a happy man was 
concerned. He "spent his years as a tale that 
is told," and there was no sweet perfume in 
life for Bismarck. He went to sleep with his 
fathers, as many less important individuals 
have done, very thankful that life was over, 
while the great world rushed on unmindful of 
the passing of the great German statesman. 

163 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

In the mad rush for fame and favor this 
favored prince forgot one very important 
matter; that 

"All who joy would win 
Must share it, — 
Happiness was born a twin." 

Amid the ceaseless demands of this com- 
mercial age in which we live it is a very easy 
matter to become so engrossed in the affairs 
which are right at hand that we forget the 
higher and better things which enrich the 
soul and make us free in our spiritual lives. 
The little word of Kate R. Stiles should have 
more response in our lives than such senti- 
ments really receive. 

"Do n't let the song go out of your life, 
Though it chanced sometimes to flow 
In a minor strain: it will blend again 

With the major tone you know. 
What, though shadows rise to obscure life's size 

And hide for a time the sun; 
They will sooner lift and reveal the rift 
If you let the melody run. 
164 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

"Don't let the song go out of your life! 

Let it ring in your soul while here, 
And when you go hence it will follow you thence 

And sing on in another sphere. 
Then do not respond and say that the fond 

Sweet songs of your life have flown; 
For if you ever knew that a song was true, 

Its music is still your own." 

Since joy can not be had in -all those things 
which are centered in the rich, powerful, and 
strong, it is a useless and futile search to 
expend even a part of our very life-blood 
upon them. If, as has been well said, "joy 
leads to the refinement and perfecting of our 
natures," then only those things will come 
in for their share in the life of joy which 
help to develop these qualities in the human 
heart. Every quality in life has its part to 
perform. You can no more change qualities 
in life than you can change any other species. 
There must be the natural process of beget- 
ting and rearing. 

It is very true that we are on a useless 
search when we seek for joy among the "rich 

165 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

treasures" of this world. None of these so- 
called "treasures" give joy, or even any sem- 
blance of joy. Then 

"Why not take life with cheerful trust, 
With faith in the strength of weakness? 
The slenderest daisy rears its head 
With courage and with meekness. 
A sunny face 
Hath holy grace 
To woo the sun forever." 

One Sabbath afternoon I heard the ven- 
erable Rev. Dr. George F. Pentecost speak 
in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in 
New York City. He was speaking of the 
great love of God. He told of how the 
great love of God appeared to him person- 
ally, and how it filled his soul with the full- 
est joy. 

He compared the love of God to one of 
his visions of the Niagara Falls. The great 
volume of water pouring over the falls in its 
almost unlimited volume, while there was a 
small mist returning, being driven by the 
winds. That is what gives us our joy, he 

1 66 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

said. The blessing of God comes to us in 
such unmeasured quantities, and we return 
a small amount of it to God. Yet that small 
amount of return is the basis for all the joy 
we possess. Should we return to God a more 
satisfactory amount of our lives, we would 
have the delightful experience of our souls 
being more completely filled with His divine 
grace. 

Christians seldom avail themselves of all 
that they are encouraged to appropriate of 
the riches of this divine grace. In this par- 
taking it is not necessary to deprive another 
of any part of his share, as there is a full 
amount for all. It is like the air. None are 
hindered the breathing because there are 
other lungs to fill. In partaking of the grace 
of God we do others the greater good when 
we ourselves partake to the very fullest meas- 
ure. Lack of partaking of spiritual grace is 
like refusing to inhale the "fresh zephyrs of 
God's eternal blessing." We by refusing not 
alone make a spiritual consumptive, but also 
help to people the realm of Christ with cor- 

167 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

rupting contagion. The grass has just as 
much reason for refusing the dew as we have 
to decline the overtures of mercy and love. 

It is only when we do really fill ourselves 
full of God's grace that we become a blessing 
to those hearts with whom we come into re- 
lation. A very homely illustration was met 
with recently when in the country. The 
farmer fed his cows very extravagantly, as 
it seemed to me. I spoke to him about it. 
Smilingly he said: "That shows how much 
you know about this business. Do n't you 
know that it takes only so much to keep a 
cow, and all that you can get her to eat 
above that amount has more profit in it than 
any feed you give her which has to be con- 
sumed in her keeping?" 

Can't we get a spiritual lesson from this, 
and say that our own souls require so much 
of the grace of God to keep them alive, and 
all that we can get ourselves to partake of 
above this amount will render a richer return 
to ourselves, our friends, and God? Since 
none are living up to the danger line of spir- 

168 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

ltual corpulency, we might a little more freely 
indulge in the rich viands of God's unfailing 
love. 

"Our harp tones should be sweeter, 
Our trumpet tones more clear, 
Our anthems ring so grandly 

That all the world must hear! 
Oh, royal be our music, 

For who has cause to sing 
Like the chorus of redeemed ones, 
The children of a King?" 

— Miss Havergal. 

Men in all walks of life seek their heart's 
satisfaction in the course which they call joy- 
ous. Whatever be their conception of joy, 
that is the field in which they hunt for their 
heart's realization. That is the game in 
which they are in pursuit. Old Belshazzar, 
of whom the Bible tells, sought his "at the 
feast of his lords." But, like all others who 
have sought it there, found "the handwriting 
on the wall." He was a fool; he was driven 
from his kingdom; his kingdom was divided; 
and, deserted of friends, he meets a quick end. 
169 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Just so is it in all such unhallowed and un- 
godly pursuits. 

"A heart turned Godward feels more joy 

In one short hour of prayer than e'er was raised 

By all the feasts of earth since its foundation." 

There are others who seek joy in the cul- 
tivation of the intellect. If there is any one 
thing I do know, and of which I can produce 
the evidence, it is that joy is not found in 
that realm. My own associations are with 
intellectual persons almost entirely, and I can 
truthfully say that they are at best no hap- 
pier than are the humblest of earth's most 
illiterate ones. In fact, were comparisons of 
any use, it could be shown that the humbler 
one is the happier. It may be argued that 
w T ith the broadening of the intellect the cup 
of joy is made larger, to which we are not 
ready to assent. 

There is no one person of all times who is 
more competent to speak than Solomon, 
whose wisdom was so great that he was 
called, and is yet so designated, The Wise 

170 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

Man. On this matter here is his word, U A11 
is vanity and vexation of spirit." What Solo- 
man knew to be the case is the common 
knowledge of earth's most intelligent persons. 
Joy and increased intelligence are not neces- 
sarily equally inclusive terms. 

See how the notion of joy affects peoples. 
Take the Greeks. They conceived the joy of 
life to lay in activity. This would give a 
faint indication of why Plotinus would wage 
a fierce warfare against the Christians. The 
Christians held, according to Plotinus, that 
there was no virtue or good whatever in ac- 
tivity. That if one were even smitten on 
one cheek, he was unhesitatingly to turn the 
other one. 

It is undeniably true that there is too much 
of what Riley put into verse, yet there is the 
true and genuine spirit of 

"I '11 bear the cross, endure the shame, 
Supported by Thy word," 

of the faithful servant of the real life. Men 

are never so able to grapple with the difficult 

171 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

problems of life as when they are the full- 
grown product of the culture of the life of 
joy. It is the word of only the "survival of 
the unfittest" who repeats: 

"There ! little girl ; do n't cry ! 

They have broken your doll, I know; 
And your tea-pot blue, 
And your playhouse too, 
Are things of long ago: 
But childish troubles will soon pass by. 
There! little girl; don't cry. 

"There! little girl; don't cry! 

They have broken your heart, I know; 
And the rainbow gleams 
Of your youthful dreams 
Are things of the long ago: 
But heaven holds all for which you sigh. 
There! little girl; don't cry. ,, 

— Riley. 

The teaching of Jesus was that "if a man 
smite thee on the one cheek, turn the other 
to him also," "and if a man compel thee 
to go with him one mile, go with him two;" 
but that is far from teaching a life of in- 
activity. There is more mountainous at- 

172 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

testation of the earnest active life arfforded by 
the Christian Church than is to be found 
among any other class of people. 

While the Greeks did not interpret the 
Christian mind properly, yet there is some 
truth in their claims. The Christian will not 
go after trouble. He does not seek honor 
or fame. Earthly glory does not appeal to 
him as a Christian. Yet in the face of all 
that the Christian world is in a very large 
measure The World. 

Jesus gave another teaching which has dis- 
turbed the minds of some. He would say 
by His apostle, "In nothing be anxious, but 
in supplication and prayers make your re- 
quests unto God." But that is again far from 
being against the most active life. 

The false conception of the Greeks arose 
from their over-appreciation of the athletic 
development. Whatever was not the most 
complete fulfillment of all that pertains to 
the frame of the man was not in keeping with 
their conception of the greatest worth of the 
individual. They over-emphasized the 

173 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

physical, while the Christian seeks the proper 
poise of body-mind-spirit. 

There is no way of finding how a thing 
works to such satisfaction as to see how it 
does work. Let us look on the outward 
world and see what we can learn about the 
life of joy. Where do we find the most 
active people under the sun? In countries 
and among peoples where the religion of the 
Lord Jesus Christ is the prevailing religion. 
And in those countries we find that the most 
active are those whose lives are hid deepest 
with Christ in God. A croaking, dyspeptic, 
somnambulistic Christian is one of the myths 
of the Middle Ages. 

Jesus, according to some, had a teaching 
that a man is not to labor for his meat. That 
is, if we cut sentences we can get something 
to that effect. But the real teaching is that 
a man is to have a vocation and an avocation. 
His main, primary, essential business in life 
is to labor for that meat which endureth unto 
eternal life; that is, to absorb all other inter- 
ests. But it is not to eliminate all other in- 

*74 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

terests. We are to labor, above all labors, 
for the culture of our spiritual lives; but we 
are as well to earn our own bread by the 
sweat of our own brows. 

Work is one of the greatest blessings God 
has bestowed upon mankind. No man has 
any right to exist who will not work. The 
glory of w T ork is more than fortune or fame. 
u He that sweeps a house as by My laws, 
makes that and the action fine." 

"No day so drear but evensong 
Shall wake the stars; 
No cell so locked that time erelong 
Shall break the bars. 

"No loss so large but leaveth soil 
Its waste to mend, 
No task so great but plodding toil 
Shall see its end." 

— Margaret Sangster. 

The Christian is more competent to strive 
in the work of life than is any other, because 
he has banished from his life those loathsome 
pests of discontent, restlessness, vain longings, 
and countless other vitiating influences which 

175 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

are common to the life of the Christless ones. 
When these take up their abode in the human 
heart and become masters there, only the 
puff-balls of deceit and iniquity reach maturity 
as fruits. 

When Jesus Christ is the Master of the 
heart there are therein only those life-giving 
seeds which bring forth the most luscious 
fruits and perfect grain. Joy has no more 
to do with corroding things and corrupting 
influences of the real life than have elders, 
deacons, and stewards with the most vicious 
outlawry. 

There is one very beautiful product of the 
life or culture of joy which always made my 
own spiritual vision appreciative. It is the 
bringing of the will of the individual so that 
it is in complete harmony and oneness with 
the will of God. When this process has be- 
come complete there has been great, marked 
progress in the work of grace. Until that 
time there remains a discrepancy between the 
possible and the attained. 

176 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

" *T is life whereof our nerves are. scant ; 
Oh, life, not death, for which we pant: 
More life, and fuller, that I want." 

The channels by which moroseness is car- 
ried are not the ones by which joy enters the 
human heart. A man was asked once by a 
friend how he could overcome the habit of 
moroseness, and got this reply, "By passing 
the butter at the table in your own home." 

The forces which develop selfishness are 
not the ones which culture the life of joy. 
There is no more miserable person than that 
one who is all self-centered. It is not best 
for the self to be always thinking about the 
self. Joy never comes when thought about. 
We have simply to do the things which pro- 
duce joy, and not by worrying about the com- 
ing. It is not letting down the strings of life 
to look beyond self. No one becomes a man 
of great education who does not forget self 
completely. Perhaps few of us could do 
as was told of a famous scientist, who was 
seen in his laboratory late one night, and a 

177 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

friend, passing, thought he would stop in a 
few minutes; and as the friend stepped in 
the door and spoke a word, the scientist flew 
for his hat and said, "I had forgotten all 
about it, but I was married to-day." When 
the soldiers thought of themselves they were 
fleeing from their enemy; but when they for- 
got themselves they were following him who 
said, "Turn, boys, turn; we 're going back." 
But for their forgetfulness of themselves, 
there would have been no victory. 

There are many rebuffs, failures, jars, in 
our lives which we must forget as soon as 
possible. They will not affect anything se- 
riously if we will get rid of them as soon 
as they are over. If we catch them and hold 
on to them they will do us harm, for they 
will consume the seeds which produce the 
joy of our hearts. Tying trouble to our door- 
knob is not a very desirable business. Forego 
these light things and get the joy of God's 
salvation in Christ Jesus into our souls, and 
we find that all is well. 

A prominent banker once gave me this bit 

i 7 8 



THE NURTURE OF JOY 

of advice : "No matter how dark it may be 
to you, never let the other fellow know that 
it is not the very best possible. I have kept 
my bank from breaking by that very thing." 
That would be a good thing for us to ob- 
serve in the realm of joy. Telling about the 
dark and corrupting things usually does only 
harm, and remembering even a wrong or an 
injustice does nobody good. 'Think of Christ 
and what He has done for us and what glory 
awaits us when we have dome that which is 
right to do, and the clouds will begin to 
break and rays of light pass through. 
"Weeping may endure for the night, but joy 
cometh in the morning." 

Neither can we get joy by hunting for it. 
When sought, it flees. Joy is one of those 
shy creatures which bring only coy blessings. 
It will not be courted, and neither will it be 
wed. To win joy you must win another. 
If you can not get her twin you lose them 
both. 

You remember the words of Jesus when 
He said, "Inasmuch as you give a cup of 
179 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

cold water in My name, you give it unto Me." 
That is the way joy is won. Not by direct, 
but by indirect means. Every little act of 
kindness and every deed of love is but to 
receive the coo of love from the beauteous 
joy. Joy is ever increased by tender minis- 
trations of love. 

It ought fill our hearts with holy exultation 
that joy may be won and developed by such 
simple acts and practices as performing cour- 
teously and affectionately the common acts 
of life to others. Joy is best promoted by 
little unselfish deeds which are possible for 
every one to do. 

'Tor we know not every morrow can be sad ; 

So, forgetting all the sorrow we have had, 
Let us fold away our fears, 
And put by our foolish tears, 
And through all the coming years 

Just be glad." 



180 



The Fruit of Joy 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

We have been considering the culture of joy. 
Beauteous as is that full, rounded character 
which passes through the various stages of 
its rapturous experience and growth until, like 
the full-blown flower on the coming of the 
warm rain above, yet this is far from being 
all that is falling upon us as partakers of the 
abundant life. There is incumbent upon us 
the fruit of joy as well as a growth in any 
other of the graces of the spiritual life. 

It is a remarkable quality in life which 
allows us to be in the delightful relation to 
the qualities of life which permit us access 
by faith into those graces wherein we stand 
and toward which we incline with becoming 
reverence. It is equally important that we be 
able to rejoice in the hope of the glory of 
God. 

All culture and no fruit is certainly a life 
considerably out of proportion. Should we 

183 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

go on culturing our Christian graces until we 
had them quite perfect, we would still have 
missed a great blessing to our souls did we 
fail to get the sweet kernel and fruit of joy. 
The culture of joy is only to the end that 
there may be the fruits of joy. i 'Herein is 
My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit ; 
so shall ye be My disciples." 

"Joy is duty; — so with golden lore 
The Hebrew rabbis taught in days of yore, 
And happy human hearts learned in their speech 
Almost the highest wisdom man can reach. 

"But one bright peak still rises far above, 
And there the Master stands whose name is Love, 
Saying to those whom heavy tasks employ, 
Life is divine when duty is a joy." 

Because God first loved us, because He 
opened to us the visions of life and the glories 
of Himself, is the reason that we love Him. 
"We love Him because He first loved us." 
Our hearts would never of themselves turn 
to the great All-Father. We could have 
trained our minds and affections and emotions 
until they would have become perfect, yet it 

184 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

would not have necessarily meant that we 
would have given God the glory due unto His 
name or yielded ourselves in glad response to 
His holy call in salvation. 

Each faithful Christian is fully aware that 
God does really love him and that there is 
an obligation upon him that he not only love 
God in return for His love, but that he love 
all persons whom God loves. If a man loves 
not those whom he has seen, how can he 
love God, whom he has not seen? "Show 
me your faith," says James, "without your 
works, and I will show my faith by my 
works." "Faith without works is dead, be- 
ing alone." "If ye bear much fruit, so shall 
ye be My disciples." 

While the fragrance and flower and rich- 
ness of color is very beautiful and necessary, 
yet it is the fruit which is of the greatest 
worth. Fruit is the measurable quality. A 
thing is just as beautiful if it fills its place 
well in life, even though it be what is con- 
sidered homely. The following the correct 
lines of beauty are splendid, but a noble char- 

i8 5 



THE CULTURE OF JOYi 

acter may grace the life even if there is not 
the full satisfaction in the lines of beauty. 
Beauty may be only satisfaction. It is cer- 
tainly no less than beautiful if it fills our 
hearts full of the greatest pleasure and exu- 
berance. 

"The joy of the Lord is your strength," is 
a passage of Holy Scripture which has vital 
signification in this connection. The Jews 
had become dormant in their activities, and 
were passing into further decay. Their fruit 
of life had become imperfect and their vision 
of Jehovah was greatly waning, just as na- 
tions and individuals of to-day persist in fol- 
lowing their own way, even if they know it 
runs counter to God and the terms of the 
eternal life. 

It matters not whether it were prophet or 
priest who spoke these words, their meaning 
remains the same. They needed to bear fruit 
both in their own souls and to glorify the 
great God. They needed above all things, 
worldly speaking, to be united in one common 
cause. This the joy of the Lord would do. 

186 



I 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

Or, rather, it would help them to so adjust 
their lives that they would be united as one 
person. 

They needed to be more brave. Their 
courage had become weak, and they needed 
more vitality put into their lives. What 
makes a man so brave as the joy of Jehovah? 
All that is needed to make such a character 
as Peter displayed in the time of his greatest 
peril is to put enough of God into him. 
Havelock's soldiers were such gallant heroes 
because they were, first, such praying saints. 

These Jews needed to have more of the 
true spirit for the grappling with their own 
personal lives and the maintaining their hold 
on matters of State. Their political and so- 
cial institutions were going into decay. Sin 
was taking hold of their lives, and apathy to 
things in general seemed prevalent. There 
must needs arise some great power in their 
whole body, or decay would result. Their 
commingling with each other was not con- 
ducive to development. They needed both 
the flower and fruit of Jehovah, and as God 

i8 7 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

is Spirit, and His joy comes only from the 
most intimate association with Him and in 
sweet companionship with Him, they sorely 
needed this uniting their lives with God. 

They had been doing but little in the serv- 
ice of God. His joy would at once set them 
heartily to work, and with songs of rejoicing 
they would go on doing the service of the 
Lord. A joy that does not set a man to 
work in the vineyard of the Lord is of very 
poor quality. 

These Jews had been negligent of the great 
spiritual forces which promote the furthering 
of the heavenly blessings. The joy of the 
Lord would make them adjust their lives so 
that God could pour His Spirit upon them 
without stint or reserve. God will not come 
into any heart until the way of the Lord has 
been prepared and His paths made straight. 

They needed One who would fight their 
battles for them. God would do that if the 
way of His coming into their hearts and lives 
had been made. He will put into the hearts 
of men the confidence that He will do that 

188 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

very thing. Thus the joy of the. Lord be- 
comes the inspirer of hope. As long as we 
repose on the strong arm of God all is well. 
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast," 
and when God is the inspirer of that hope 
no ill whatever can betide. No greater hope 
is permitted to man than that whose founder 
is God Almighty. 

These Jews needed a strong arm against 
sin. They had not conformed to the stand- 
ards of right as even their own hearts dic- 
tated. They knew well that they should have 
done far better than they were doing. When 
the holy fire of the life of joy had departed 
from their lives there was no further passion 
in their bosoms, and hence no reason why 
they could not go to any length of the evil 
passions and avarice. 

Just as long as there is the holy love and 
joy of God in the heart there is no height in 
the growth of grace to which we may not 
aspire; but when this is wanting there is no 
depth of iniquity into which a mortal may 
not sink. No sin whatever can abide where 
13 189 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

the dynamic of God is operative; and when 
sin is fully enshrouded there is death. God 
is a consuming fire which puts all sin out 
of our lives; but He is also the great power 
in our lives which builds us up into all full- 
ness of life and fruition of hope and glory. 

The joy of the Lord gives power to accept 
the will of God as our own will just as though 
it were our own will originally. This in it- 
self is a joy of strength. Whenever the will 
of God is supreme and the joy of the Lord 
predominates, there is neither temptation nor 
harm to invade. Who has not found the joy 
of God the greatest value in time of tempta- 
tion? The hardest time temptation has is 
to get a hold upon our lives. Can we but 
keep the attachment from us, there is no ill 
that can befall us. 

The joy of the Lord is a disinfectant to 
sin. While it invites all that is good and 
of perfect report to come and abide in our 
hearts, it drives out and destroys all that 
is base and vicious. Nothing of a corrupt 
nature can have any compatibility with the 

190 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

joy of Jehovah, and nothing of a pure nature 
but has the sweetest communion and joy in 
Jehovah. 

The joy of the Lord is man's strength in 
that it keeps up his spirit to the highest pos- 
sible tension. There is no need of stimulants 
when the joy of the Lord is within. It keeps 
up the man to the point where he is just 
within his strength, and not below that point. 
It is one thing for a man to stimulate him- 
self and quite a different thing to build him- 
self up to the point where he will do the re- 
quired work without any external stimulants. 
Stimulants are to a man what the whip is 
to the horse. The fruit of joy is to the spirit 
and strength of a man what good feed and 
kind care are to that faithful beast. It builds 
him up instead of whipping him up. 

A man in whom there is much spirit is 
all the time kept up to a very high tension. 
This in itself is a source of strength, as he 
utilizes all of himself; thus not only is he 
becoming stronger, but more symmetrical. A 
lopsided man is a fearful creature. Poise of 

191 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

character is a necessary condition to any de- 
sirable success. 

Then, besides, there are special times when 
a man is drawn upon very strongly for added 
necessities. The more the man is worthy the 
more these high pressures tell upon him. If 
the man is not careful he will go off into fits 
of despondency. The only safeguard is the 
fruit of joy. 

When a man has a great work to do, and 
he feels that he can do it, he has accomplished 
half the task. If he does not keep at the 
making of a living there will come a time 
when the wolf will be standing at his door; 
then it is well for him to remember the words 
of that grand old man who said, when at the 
close of an eventful life, "Once I was young, 
now am old; yet I have never seen the right- 
eous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. " 
This does not apply to the indolent or un- 
worthy. 

If the man feels that the pressure of life 
is much harder than it ought be, then he 
can put his trust in God all the more and 

192 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

remember poor old Job, who would not for- 
sake God though all his friends should sug- 
gest such a thing. God never forsakes. 
"Though a mother may forsake her child, 
yet I will never leave My people." "The 
fruits of joy give strength to the soul." 

This message comes with such clearness 
and force that it makes us stop and wonder 
if we are living up to the standard of the 
highest attainment to this, one of the "fruits 
of the Spirit." "But let all those who put 
their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever 
shout for joy, because Thou defendest them; 
let them also that love Thy name be joyful 
in Thee." (Psalm 5: 11.) 

We have seen that the joy of the Lord is 
not only permissible, but is a real asset to that 
life which is hid with Christ in God. It is 
a real established quality, of which there is 
no getting on in the life of the Spirit without 
its realization in the human soul. 

Since the fruits of joy are our strength, 
what is the extent of that strength? This 
question need not stifle us, for there is no limit 

193 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

to the power of God; so that it is conditioned 
only by the life through which it operates. 
If the Christ-hid life is of strength sufficient, 
there will be such an accumulation of power 
that another living wonder in the spiritual 
world will be manifest. Every man who is 
of any spiritual life whatever is to the ex- 
tent of his character the expression of that 
power. 

This joy of the Lord is like the Lord Jesus 
Christ Himself. Jesus came as the great 
God-expression to the world. When He 
was born, the only song the angels could sing 
was a song of joy. u Glory to God in the 
highest, on earth peace, good will to man- 
kind." This may be the only song the an- 
gels sing. And Jesus told His disciples, 
"These things I have spoken unto you, that 
My joy might remain in you, and that your 
joy might be full." (John 15 : 11.) 

God has surrounded us with His love and 
care. These create in us, when our souls are 
in the fruits of joy, still other great tidal 
waves of joy. They become so great in 

194 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

volume that they submerge all our fears, dis- 
content, gloom, and give us only that clear 
vision possible only to glorified saints. 

"When our hearts are right" is the condi- 
tion in which we find a holy nature and the 
accompanying sensations of joy and peace. 
This holy nature gives us our freedom, and 
from which we may go on. until the joy of 
God sweeps down upon our souls like a glad 
billow of love. 

"If in my Father's love 
I have a filial part, 
His Holy Spirit, like a dove, 
Will rest within my heart." 

We must remember that submission and 
obedience to God and the thorough infusing 
of truth are necessary conditions by which we 
are allowed the privileges of the fruits of 
joy. When love and joy reign in their fullest 
extent, then it is that we covet the submission 
and obedience which implies the sweetest fel- 
lowship with the Father. Having this joy 
and refreshing fellowship, we want to be 
helpful to others and wish to impart to them 

195 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

the secret by which we gained our great bless- 
ings. This all springs out of the joy of lov- 
ing. 

When the joy of loving has burned itself 
into the very center of our souls, then we seek 
to use all God's first gifts to the very best 
purposes. There is no selfishness in the 
Christ-cleansed heart. 

"Such joy is our strength because we are 
stronger in joy than in sorrow. Joy gives 
courage and hope and free activity, and 
health of body and spirit. It fits us for the 
service of God; it is a safeguard against the 
allurements of sinful pleasure, and against 
discouragement in trying times; it recom- 
mends our religion and our Master to the 
world, and attracts men to them; it honors 
God. This is especially true of joy, that it 
triumphs over sorrow and trial." — Peloubet. 

The fruits of joy are not confined to in- 
dividuals alone, but extend to families, na- 
tions, Churches. All who will allow the God 
of all joy to come within the pale of their 
lives have His constant presence and atten- 

196 



THE FRUIT OF JOY 

tion. There all find the sweetest delight 
which ever flooded man's being. So u when 
the mists have rolled away in splendor from 
the brightness of the hills," the confiding 
heart is still able to say : 

"My Jesus, as Thou wilt; 

All shall be well for me; 
Each changing future scene 

I gladly trust with Thee. 
Straight to my home above 

I travel calmly on, 
And sing in life or death, 

'My Lord, Thy will be done.' " 



197 



Joy in Christ 



JOY IN CHRIST 

The incoming of the Lord Jesus Christ into 
the heart of a man is the occasion for the 
greatest joy that individual ever has produced 
within him. For this reason we must be very 
careful that we do not give out the opinion 
that the indwelling of the Lord Jesus within 
our hearts is any occasion for grief, gloom, 
or sadness of any kind. He is the dispeller 
of these and brings in the dawn of the new 
day of peace and joy. 

This is the experience of all those who 
come into touch with the Christ as Savior. 
From which rich exuberance of their hearts 
they express these words: u We joy in God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." Thus we 
see from one who knew out of his own per- 
sonal experience that Christ really does bring 
the fullest joy into our soul when He comes 
within. 

201 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Some persons seem to give out the impres- 
sion that the Lord Jesus Christ brings the 
blackness and darkness of despair and gloom 
to that one who would be His disciple. Some 
have even gone so far as to say that there 
should be written above the heart of every 
disciple of Christ these dreadful words, 
''Abandon hope, all ye who enter here," when 
the very reverse of this is true, Hope in 
Christ is first grasped, and glory sees its first 
dawning when He comes. 

There is no ground of hope, and of course 
no cause for joy, in any human heart until 
Jesus Christ comes within. It is only after 
Christ comes into the heart that any joy is 
possible. How sad it is to see a soul strug- 
gling for joy outside of the pale of Christ's 
redeeming grace ! 

The joy of Christ is not some "chilly wind 
coming from the north in the blackness of the 
night, shriveling every rose of happiness and 
blasting every bud of joy and gladness." 
The joy of Christ is the beautiful warm rays 
of the summer sun shining after the warm 

202 



JOY IN CHRIST 

spring showers. How refreshing and en- 
livening are these direct "healers of the cold 
and dead!" 

I just came in from the country. While 
out in the scenes of "God's first temples and 
man's first occupation" I had the privilege of 
seeing just such a sight in nature as I have in 
mind in this connection. 

It is the first abundant rain after the spring 
has come on, warm and beautiful. The win- 
ter has been long and cold. Spring, though 
tardy, has come warm and dry. The warmth 
of the sun has done its work and awaits now 
the refreshing showers of rain. During the 
night the long-desired rain came. It is an 
abundant shower. 

The following day comes off clear and 
warm. Such a bursting forth of all forms of 
vegetation ! Every form of the vegetable 
kingdom just bounds forth in all the full 
power of its being. The grass grew, plants 
put out in leaf, flowers bloom, plants in field 
and garden abound in the new-found life. 
Birds sang more sweetly, flowers more fra- 
203 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

grant, foliage more luxuriant; in fact, all na- 
ture puts on its full garments. 

The picture which has been presented of 
the vegetable world under the circumstances 
given is only a slight indication of that which 
comes in the spiritual kingdom to a human 
heart when the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ 
enters it under favorable circumstances. 

I have seen persons of a sad and morose 
frame of mind who, on the incoming of 
Christ into their hearts, became so full of 
joy that they could hardly contain themselves. 
They would shout and sing and clap their 
hands and kneel in prayer, and do a number 
of things which those outside the influence of 
the joy of Christ could not understand. 

Those persons who have not been accus- 
tomed to keep their bodies under and the 
bodily affections in control, often do things 
when they come into the new life which seems 
very ridiculous to others. But the joy of 
Christ is so sweet and good to them that they 
pass beyond their power to act in a composed 
manner. These persons are not to be cen- 

204 



JOY IN CHRIST 

sured for their actions, but commended in 
what they have done. 

No person is to be commended because he 
acts in a manner not in keeping with the 
highest forms of culture. We should act 
always so that the acts we perform may be- 
come universal acts as pertaining to that par- 
ticular action ; yet we must ever keep in mind 
that culture is not open for every one. Some 
of the best people of this world are not per- 
sons of culture in the accepted thought of 
culture, yet in the beautiful simplicity of their 
lives they seem almost divine. 

Culture is a very wide term. It includes 
many things and excludes many which are 
very good and grand. Neither is it easily 
defined. So we can not confine a soul in 
Christ with too much definiteness in the mat- 
ter of their individual actions. A soul on its 
finding Christ must work out its own actions. 
This we can certainly say, u No man can act 
the very best unless he has at least acted up 
to the limit of his own appreciation of what 
God's Word says about it." 
14 205 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

The joy of Christ is the most cheerful, de- 
lightful, exhilarating breeze which ever 
wafted from the sun-kissed presence of God 
and Christ, coming to the desert of man's un- 
profitable and unholy heart. It is a very 
strange experience. It comes as on the wings 
of the morning laden with a rich cargo of 
flowers, fruits, and all the soul-nourishing and 
refreshing products of the Holy Land. 

As to how these great blessings are received 
is dependent upon the individual temperament 
of each person receiving the boon. Each per- 
son must act in conformity to the life which 
he has at the moment Christ comes within. 
Tnere is to be neither preparation nor mim- 
icry of any kind. It is to be a clean-cut re- 
ception of that grace which Christ gives. 
Charlotte Elliott put this into song which 
will ever be before us: 

"Just as I am, and waiting not 
To rid myself of one dark blot, 
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
O Lamb of God, I come." 
206 



JOY IN CHRIST 

The joy of Christ is sweet, refreshing, and 
exceedingly precious. It caresses the heart, 
soothes the spirit, and gives tone to every deep 
pleasure for all the frame of man. It brings 
out all the Christ-life and makes Christ in- 
deed all that He can mean to us. When this 
is done we can not keep from singing: 

"Jesus — Oh, how sweet the name! 
Jesus, every day the same; 
Jesus, let all saints proclaim, 
The precious name of Jesus." 

The only way that Jesus can be considered 
"a root out of dry ground" is that He has 
no sympathy whatever with the evils of base 
men. Bad men might look upon Him as al- 
together uncomely, but when Christ is seen 
and known, the one having this great pleas- 
ure enthusiastically says of Him : 

"Oh, could I speak the matchless worth; 
Oh, could I sound the glories forth 

Which in my Savior shine, 
I 'd soar and touch the heavenly strings 
And vie with Gabriel while he sings 
In notes almost divine!" 
207 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

If we had no further interest in Christ than 
what He does for us, we would still find in 
Him cause for the deepest joy. Take what 
He says in regard to giving us peace. That 
would make our souls overflow with joy in 
appreciation of such a Lord and Savior. 
Listen to His words : 

4 ' Peace I leave with you; my peace I give 
unto you: not as the world giveth, give I 
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be fearful. Ye have heard how 
I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. 
If ye loved Me ye would have rejoiced, be- 
cause I go unto the Father : for the Father is 
greater than I. And now I have told you 
before it come to pass, that when it comes to 
pass ye may believe. I will no more speak 
much with you, for the prince of this world 
cometh: and he hath nothing in Me; but that 
the world may know that I love the Father, 
and as the Father gave Me commandment, 
even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." 

Jesus had the greatest confidence in the 
love of the disciples, and so could impart to 

208 



JOY IN CHRIST 

them the joy of His heart and the consolation 
of His own Spirit. Seemingly there was not 
a thing He could do but was done for the 
opening of the spiritual vision and enthroning 
the glories of joy in those who loved the 
Master and would follow Him. 

Jesus told the disciples many things which 
are recorded, and much more left untold by 
the evangelists ; but He did not leave us with- 
out a witness of Himself, or the directions 
for the securing of a life of power and love. 

That which He informed about with some 
degree of clearness is that He is going to 
impart a life of joy to all those who are 
worthy to receive such a blessing. 

One of the chief objects of all the life and 
teaching of Jesus pertained to the giving us 
joy. This confidence first grows out of the 
fact that Jesus Christ willed for us a life free 
from all corrupting influences and filled all 
with the blessing of power and beauty. 
Everything entering into a heart Christ-hid is 
refreshing and upbuilding. 

"Joy is the flower and fragrance of a true 
209 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

life, the crown of life the proof of its per- 
fectness." Thus we see a new reason why- 
joy is so good to a saint in Christ. Joy, joy, 
nothing but joy to the Christian. Above 
earth's lamentation there resounds nothing 
but the songs of gladness and peals of praise. 

Of all those who have a right to be joyful 
the one whose life is hid with Christ in God 
is the one who may, and should be, and is, 
the happiest person in all the world. Joy 
unspeakable and full of glory is theirs. It is 
in the range of possibilities to be running 
over full of joy all the time. There is not 
a moment in our lives when we can not be 
full of joy if we are living the Christ-life. 

There is not one single source of joy but 
is open to the Christian through his Christ. 
Joy will fill his soul if he does not stop the 
channels which carry the fruit-bearing life of 
the flowing river. This river carries all the 
joy-producing qualities direct into the heart 
of the one who receives its flood. 

The Nile makes the productive region 
210 



JOY IN CHRIST 

through which it flows. Its banks are covered 
with verdure, the birds make melody on its 
shores; the flower-blooms, trees, and grasses 
form for it a beautiful border, largely because 
of the waters. The country through which 
the Nile passes would be a desert waste but 
for the waters brought from a higher source; 
just so the heart of man is one bleak wild 
until God pours His grace into it. Sin is in 
the heart without God. We should let others 
know of the great joy we have in our souls, 
and that the joy of the world does not com- 
pare with ours. We should let the world 
know that Christ gives us exceeding joy. In 
like manner the grace of God makes rich that 
heart and life through whom it flows. 

The joy of God is to pass on through the 
life into other lives. To receive them does 
not warrant the fullness of joy forever. The 
secret of life of every kind is in giving. "The 
liberal soul shall be fat and flourishing." 
The life of Christ is joy to us only when it 
has passed on to bless some other soul. 
211 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

"Daily, daily sing to Jesus; 

Sing, my soul, His praises due; 
All He does deserves our praises, 
And our deep devotion too. 

"For in deep humiliation 

He for us did live below; 
Died on Calvary's cross of torture, 
Rose to save our souls from woe." 

— Bishop Hannington. 

Character alone responds to character, and 
face gives recognition alone to that of a 
friend. The truth in "As the man is the 
wife is" is quite as true in the realm of the 
joy of Christ as in the marriage relation. 
The joy of Christ is the compelling motive 
which prompts to ours and makes us abound 
in the joy of His salvation. 

What is joy to one is not necessarily so to 
another. The sun dries the mown hay, while 
the green grass is made to grow and feed the 
flocks and herds. The announcement that 
the King of Glory was coming made old 
Herod quake with fear, while the shepherds 
could sing their anthem of joy. "Glory to 
God in highest, on earth peace, good will to 

212 



JOY IN CHRIST 

men," is the glad hallelujah of those who 
worshiped the Lord God. Those who hate 
God have only curses for the Christ. 

Good old Simeon and Anna had a love- 
feast when Christ came to them, but the mob 
would put Him to death. They feared and 
hated the Savior of men, and so wanted noth- 
ing to do with Him. There was none of the 
joy of the Savior in their hearts. 

The heart determines what we love and 
what we hate. That heart which is at peace 
with God and in whose life righteousness 
reigns will say, "Joy to the world, the Lord 
is come!" while that one whose heart is full 
of canker and gall will curse God and die. 

There is no sadder day in the life of our 
Lord than when He told the disciples that 
He would impart joy to them. It was just 
immediately preceding the awful agonies 
which called out the seventeenth chapter of 
John, which is His great prayer. 

The very connection of these words of 
Jesus with the most crucial test in all the life 
of Christ on earth ought forever drive away 
213 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

from our minds that the life of joy is depend- 
ent upon favorable outer circumstances. Un- 
der the very shadow of the cross Christ im- 
parted to His disciples the joy of Himself. 

We are, however, compelled to ask our- 
selves, Is the self-sacrifice which Jesus told 
about the same as the life of joy? We can 
safely say that here is something which differ- 
entiates the life of Christ from the world. 
The world does not know of this powerful ad- 
junct to life and character. The one sublime, 
supreme, all-sufficient example of sacrifice is 
Jesus Christ Himself. 

"How shall I follow Him I serve? 
How shall I copy Him I love? 
Nor from those blessed footsteps swerve 
Which lead me to His seat above? 

"Privations, sorrows, bitter scorn, 
The life of toil, the mean abode, 
The faithless kiss, the crown of thorns, — 
Are these the consecrated road ? 

" *T was thus He suffered, though a Son, 
Foreknowing, choosing, feeling all, 
Until the perfect work was done, 
And drunk the bitter cup of gall." 

214 



JOY IN CHRIST 

The self-sacrifice of Christ leacis us on to 
another condition of the life of joy, and that 
is the benevolence of Christ. Sacrifice is 
never complete in itself. There must be 
gathered in that larger term all the forces 
and forms of the true fullness of life. These 
must at the same time be fuller of meaning 
than are the common forms and forces. 

I refer to the benevolence of Christ. He 
not only asks us to hide our lives with Him 
in God, but He assures us that He will hide 
His life in us. His own interpretation of 
His coming was, "I am come to seek and to 
save that which was lost." "I am come that 
ye might have life, and that ye might have it 
abundantly." Jesus Christ gave Himself to 
the world of men. He lived for them, He 
died for them. "Their salvation was the in- 
spiration of His endurance and the joy of 
His anticipation." Thus Christ leads us on 
and up until we catch the zephyrs coming 
from the "Land of pure delight, where saints 
and angels dwell." 

Christ was never so full of joy as when 
215 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

He was doing something for some one of 
those who thronged about Him, and inspiring 
some heart with new courage for the battles 
of life. No one ever lived who showed such 
benevolent nature as did Jesus. Washington 
Irving said, "How easy it is for one benevo- 
lent being to diffuse pleasure around him ; and 
how truly is a kind heart a fountain of glad- 
ness, making everything in its vicinity to 
freshen into smile." No one ever came into 
this world who did that so completely as did 
Jesus. He would turn the most dreary spir- 
itual wastes into the sweetest and most re- 
freshing garden of promise. 

" Majestic sweetness sits enthroned 
Upon the Savior's brow; 
His head with radiant glories crowned, 
His lips with grace o'erflow. 

"No mortal can with Him compare, 
Among the sons of men; 
Fairer is He than all the fair 
That fills the heavenly train." 

— Samuel Stennett. 

The joy of Jesus was further seen in the 
harmony of Himself with the Father. "I 

216 



JOY IN CHRIST 

and My Father are one." "If ye shall ask 
anything in My name, I will do it; that the 
Father may be glorified in the Son." "I am 
the true Vine, and My Father is the Husband- 
man." "Even as the Father hath loved Me, 
I have also loved you." "If ye keep My 
commandments, ye shall abide in My love; 
even as I have kept My Father's command- 
ments, and abide in His love." See also John 
17: i-ii, which is a fuller expression of the 
same glorious relationship. 

Jesus was one with His Father, which He 
well knew. He had both the external and 
internal evidence which made it sure. This 
oneness with the Father gave Christ all power 
and all glory. He was open and revealed 
unto all those who knew Him. They were 
all strangely conscious that He was from the 
Father and did works which none could do 
save He who had come from the Father. 
The works Christ did testified from whence 
He came. 

"I have glorified Thee on the earth; 
glorify Thou Me," was the plaintive plea of 
One wholly conscious of the glory of the 
217 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Father coming to Himself. Christ knew 
that He had finished the work which the Fa- 
ther had given Him to do, and He is now 
to receive Him into glory. 

A further element of the joy of Christ may 
be seen in His character. He was in a world 
of sin, yet He knew no sin. He was the 
One on whom the moral and spiritual nature 
of man should rest as u the only foundation." 
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," 
said Jesus, because there rested in Him all 
"the fullness of the Godhead bodily." 

The character of Jesus was His joy. This 
makes the joy of Christ both permanent and 
satisfying. Christ is "All and All" because 
He is all worthy. He is life and light and 
joy and salvation, all that the human heart 
can wish or even think of good. All that 
any mind can imagine or heart comprehend, 
that is what Christ is to that person who 
wants Him as his joy. 

"How beauteous were the marks divine 
That in Thy meekness used to shine, 
That lit Thy lonely pathway, trod 
In wondrous love, O Son of God!" 

2l8 



Joy in the Holy Ghost 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

"The Kingdom of God is joy in the Holy 
Ghost." (Rom. 14: 17.) 

"The disciples were filled with joy in the 
Holy Ghost." (Acts 13 : 52.) 

"And ye became followers of us, and of 
the Lord, having received the word in much 
affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." 
(1 Thess. 1:6.) 

"The fruit of the Spirit is joy." (Gal. 
5:22.) 

"Holy Spirit, faithful Guide, 
Ever near the Christian's side, 
Gently lead us by the hand, 
Pilgrims in a desert land. 
Weary soul, fore'er rejoice, 
While they hear the sweetest voice 
Whispering softly, 'Wanderer, come, 
Follow me ; I ? 11 guide thee home/ " 

The joy of the Holy Ghost has ever been 
one of the most dynamic of all the sources of 
the Christian's joy. It has, indeed, in con- 
15 221 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

nection with the joy of Christ, been the chief 
fountain of joy of the Christ-hid. From the 
earliest days of the Christian religion until 
the present there has been the steady stream 
of the faithful of God going to the " fountain 
of joy in the Holy Ghost." 

From the very first descent of the Holy 
Spirit at the day of Pentecost there has been 
the sweetest effulgence of the life of joy com- 
ing to the u hid with Christ in God" through 
the operations of the Holy Spirit. This oc- 
casions no surprise whatever, since the "dis- 
ciples were filled with joy in the Holy Ghost." 

When the word went around the earth that 
gold was discovered in California men flocked 
to that land, passing through hazardous re- 
gions and enduring severest hardships. 
Many even laid down their lives trying to 
get to the land where gold had been found. 

It was not a positive fact, but only a con- 
jecture that pure gold was to be found in 
that locality. Men acting on that supposition 
laid their lives bare that they might secure to 
themselves this material goad. They spared 

222 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

not themselves for the possible acquirement 
of gold. So when men were filled with joy 
in the Holy Ghost, other men would try to 
find it for themselves. Men do find, when- 
ever the Holy Ghost descends upon them, 
that joy is always an accompaniment, and 
those possessing it desire to pass it on to 
others. 

Some men like fancy, but most men like 
facts. We are all more or less Thomas 
Gradgrind sort of fellows. When we know 
that certain relations bring certain results, we 
would rather have that than some mere fancy. 
Milton could write "Paradise Lost" and 
"Paradise Regained,'' and Bunyan could give 
us "Pilgrim's Progress;" but we would soon 
tire of such glories, or unglories. The mar- 
ket is keen on these lines for a minute, but 
the "bulls and bears" would soon need their 
horns and claws replenished were this thing 
to go on long. 

At one time the song "I want to be an 
angel" was a very much favored one, but it 
has not as much force now as the simple 
223 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

statement, "I want to be a man." In an 
earlier day we sang, "Hold the fort, for I 
am coming." It has given place to-day to 

"Onward, Christian soldier, 
Marching as to war, 
With the cross of Jesus 
Going on before." 

Those whose experiences in the religious 
life justify are given the conscious assurance 
of the delightful friendship in their hearts 
of the two greatest powers in all this world: 
the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 
When all other friends fail, these two remain 
constant. Each says, "I will never leave or 
forsake." They stay with us all the way. 

Only a few days ago there came within 
my notice the account of a man who had en- 
deavored to live a consistent Christian life. 
The end of his earthly journey was at hand. 
He called his family about him and directed 
them about his putting away. He then told 
them some of the rich experiences of his life 
in Christ, and the aid and delight the Holy 
Spirit had been to him. How He had in- 

224 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

spired his religious life and had also been the 
keen vision of his life into the realms of the 
other world. That He had operated upon 
every power of the mind and the spirit. 
Then the old man closed his eyes, repeated a 
prayer, and passed gently into the arms of 
Jesus. 

"Blest Comforter Divine, 

Whose rays of heavenly love 
Amid our gloom and darkness shine, 
And point our souls above; 

"Thou, whose inspiring breath 
Can make the cloud of care, 
And e'en the gloomy vale of death, 
A smile of glory wear; 

"Thou, who dost fill the heart 
With love to all our race, — 
Blest Comforter, to us impart 
The blessings of Thy grace." 

— Mrs. Sigourney. 

Jesus told His disciples, "I send the prom- 
ise of the Father upon you: but tarry ye in 
the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with 
power from on high." And, "Now the God 
225 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

of hope fill you with all joy and peace in be- 
lieving, that ye may abound in hope through 
the power of the Holy Ghost." (Rom, 

When Paul had fully vindicated himself in 
the estimation of the people with whom he 
labored they were ready to fall down and 
worship him as a god. He would have no 
such vain idolatry to pass for worship. Then 
he told them whence his power to do the 
mighty things of God. "My speech and my 
preaching was not with enticing words of 
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the 
Spirit and of power." 

When Jesus was getting His disciples 
ready for His demise from them, He gave 
them a very significant word: "The Com- 
forter, who is the Holy Ghost, whom the 
Father will send in My name, He shall teach 
you all things, and bring to your remembrance 
whatsoever I have said unto you." 

Such has been the conception of the dis- 
ciples during all the Christian period. The 
words of Paul are certainly very gratifying 

226 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

to us who are still pedestrians upon that Way. 
"For I know that this shall turn to my sal- 
vation through your prayers and the supply 
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1 : 19.) 
So that one can say after he has tried the 
Spirit to its fullest degree, 

"Life and peace to me impart, 
Seal salvation to my heart; 
Breathe Thyself into my breast, 
Earnest of immortal rest." 

After Paul had given the word just spoken 
he was not yet content, but goes on with a 
still further word of joy. He tells of what 
had been to him the greatest joy and which 
would come to all who- would conform to the 
requirements of the joyous life. "According 
to my earnest expectation and my hope, that 
in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with 
all boldness, as always, so* now also Christ 
shall be magnified in my body, whether it be 
by life, or by death. For to me to live is 
Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in 
the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet 
what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a 
227 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, 
and to be with Christ; which is far better: 
nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more need- 
ful for you. And having this confidence, I 
know that I shall abide and continue with you 
all for your furtherance and joy of faith; 
that your rejoicing may be more abundant in 
Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you 
again. Only let your conversation be as it 
becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether 
I come and see you, or else be absent, I may 
hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one 
spirit, with one mind striving together for 
the faith of the gospel; and in nothing ter- 
rified by your adversaries: which is to them 
an evident token of perdition, but to you of 
salvation, and that of God. For unto you it 
is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to 
believe on Him, but also to suffer for His 
sake; having the same conflict which ye saw 
in me, and now hear to be in me. If there 
be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any 
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the 
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye 

228 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the 
same love, being of one accord, of one mind." 
(Phil, i : 20-2: 2.) 

If we were to go into the full details of 
Paul's letter to the Philippians we would find 
it a message of joy. After he had weighed 
every condition and faced every form of the 
Christian life, the greatest life attainable in 
the world, he says, "And the peace of God 
which passeth all understanding shall keep 
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 

That was the end, so far as Paul was con- 
cerned. There was no going beyond that. 
Not yet content with the message so far given, 
he goes on expressing still further his confi- 
dence in the God and Christ in whom his life 
was hid, manifesting that the joy he had so 
controlled his life that it was all-absorbing. 

In acquiring the fullest information of the 
Christian life we become conversant with the 
office and work of the Holy Spirit. In these 
two great considerations we find that they 
comprise a very large part of the experiences 
of the life of those who follow Jesus. 
229 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

The work of the Holy Spirit in making 
plain the way of life and in helping to de- 
velop that life into the fullest measure of 
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ is the finest 
acquisition to our lives which is afforded us, 
Only those who actually deny that there is a 
Holy Ghost will fail to appreciate to the full 
the influence of the Spirit of God in making 
our lives of the greatest worth in the King- 
dom of God. 

In the life of joy the Holy Spirit has a 
place which has been divinely given. u The 
Spirit reveals to us the Son and the Father, 
and enables us to abide in the Spirit of the 
Father. He brings us into communion with 
the mind of God as revealed in His Word. 
He makes real to us the things of the King- 
dom of God; and it is He who opens to us 
the sweetness, especially the loving kindness 
which breathes in them all. Through Him 
we are enabled to exercise Christian affections, 
desires, and services. It is He, in a word, 
through whom we are participants in the life 
of salvation; and in that life He associates 

230 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

together all who share His indwelling. As 
the Holy Spirit in this dispensation evinces 
a most divine love and kindness — for what 
but love could be the spring of it? — so also 
the upshot of all His work is the revelation 
of God in love. For love is at the heart of 
all God's promises and benefits; they are 
never understood until we reach the love that 
is in them. And God is love. So the love 
of God is shed abroad in the hearts of be- 
lievers through the Holy Spirit given to them. 
He comes to make us members of a system in 
which love rules ; and He inspires all loving 
affections and dispositions proper to make us 
congruous members of so high and good a 
world." (Expository Bible, Phil. 101:2.) 

It thus becomes evident that the Holy 
Spirit has a very important place in the lives 
and actions of men. In both the intricate and 
strong places in life there is no more impor- 
tant power or glory than in the life of joy 
through the operation of the Holy Ghost. 

The place the Holy Spirit occupies in the 
life of joy is somewhat analogous to the State 
231 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

in the government of the State. There could 
be no government without the State, and there 
can be no joy without the Holy Spirit. 

"Holy Spirit, Truth divine, 
Dawn upon this soul of mine. 

Holy Spirit, Love divine, 
Glow within this heart of mine; 
Kindle every high desire ; 
Perish self in Thy pure fire! 

Holy Spirit, Power divine, 
Fill and nerve this will of mine ; 
By Thee may I strongly live, 
Bravely bear, and nobly strive. 

Holy Spirit, Right divine, 
King within my conscience reign; 
Be my law, and I shall be 
Firmly bound, forever free. 

Holy Spirit, Peace divine, 
Still this restless heart of mine; 
Speak to calm this tossing sea, 
Stayed in Thy tranquillity. 

Holy Spirit, Joy divine, 
Gladden Thou this heart of mine; 
In the desert ways I sing, 
'Spring, O Well, forever spring!'" 
— Sam'l Longfellow. 

232 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

We have already seen that "the Kingdom 
of God is joy in the Holy Ghost." This 
word is not alone the Bible expression, but 
it is the place thinking men name for the Holy 
Spirit. 

The disciples of Christ were men of great 
joy. Their source of joy was from Christ 
through the Holy Spirit. Not alone did the 
disciples have joy themselves, but they trans- 
mitted the joy they had to their followers, 
and then told them their secret: that it was 
to be found in greater abundance than they 
themselves had been able to appropriate. "It 
might have been expected that they (the dis- 
ciples) would leave gloom and despondency 
among their discouraged converts ; but it was 
not so. They left behind them the joy of 
a new hope, the inspiration of a new faith, 
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 
hearts of those who had learned of the 
heavenly promise." — Farrar. 

The acceptance of the gospel by Paul 
meant a new and supernatural joy. It meant 
a joy arising from and sustained by the Holy 
Spirit of God. It meant a joy triumphant in 

233 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

and over all suffering. His very soul leaped 
in the most enlivening exultation. 

Paul felt and indirectly expressed that the 
influence of the Holy Spirit in the life of joy 
is what gives it its true dynamic. It is well 
that Paul so realized, for the life of joy is 
not a mass floating around through the air 
wholly unattached. It is fastened all the way 
back to God. It is projected all the way for- 
ward through the heart of man. It operates 
by its own power, that of the Holy Spirit. 

The power of the Lord Jesus Christ is very 
great. The Christ-life is the life of joy. The 
life of joy is the savory spirit of man in the 
sweetest harmony with the Holy Spirit of 
God coming through the Christ-life in co- 
operation with the Holy Spirit. 

The ascetic finds no compatibility in the 
Christian religion. "A religion of gloom, of 
asceticism, of self-accusation, may be sincere 
and solid, but it wants the abounding strength, 
the rich consolation, the glorious attractive- 
ness of a religion of joy, especially if it be 
the joy of those filled with the Holy Ghost/' 

234 



JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST 

"The 'fellowship of the Spirit' is the com- 
mon participation of the Holy Spirit of God 
in His gracious presence and working. With- 
out this no one could have a real share in the 
Christian benefits." (The Expositor's Bible, 
Phil, ioo.) 

We are therefore forced to either deny the 
Holy Spirit absolutely and lay aside the Chris- 
tian life or acknowledge the full working of 
the Holy Spirit in His benefits in making our 
fellowship sweet and our whole present life 
complete and satisfying, abounding in the 
fullest joy. 

To accept the Holy Spirit in all His work- 
ings is all that we can do if we are to satisfy 
the life that now is and that which is to come. 
Acknowledging the Holy Spirit in His true 
relation is the first step in the beginning of 
realizing in our own hearts the joy of God 
through the Holy Spirit. 

"Joy of the comfortless, light of the straying, 
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure; 

Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying, 
'Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not cure.' " 

?35 



Joy and the Complete Life 



16 



JOY AND THE COMPLETE LIFE 

We have seen the courses of joy through va- 
rious considerations. It is now our purpose 
to take fuller account of its workings and the 
factors entering into that life we call the life 
of joy. 

The purpose has been to open up those 
channels which bring us unfailingly into the 
very center of the fullness of joy. In order 
to get at this most fully we shall consider 
joy and the complete life. 

The full life of joy, we say, dogmatically, 
may be attained only when there is the com- 
plete life. Joy has to do only with complete- 
ness. Fragmentariness has no part or parcel 
in the thought of joy. It is only when the 
full cycles are completed and the full coursing 
of the precious life-blood is wholly unhin- 
dered that joy passes into completeness and 
makes even greater the fullness of joy. 

The complete life can be only when there 

239 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

is fullness of joy, and the fullness of joy can 
come only when there is the complete life. 
Thus the one is mutually dependent upon the 
other. 

As long as there is a discrepancy here and 
a flaw in the character there, the life of joy 
will not be found in that heart in its fullest 
manifestation. The full force of the joyous 
life is to remedy this very defect. Life with- 
out the dynamic of a full and flourishing 
righteousness is in unconnected links, having 
neither usefulness to others, satisfaction to the 
self, nor the logic of its own being. 

Abnormal conditions always require the 
withdrawal of those forces and graces in life 
which compel the incoming of the sweet 
singers of the soul. The messengers of love 
which bring in the glad tidings of great peace 
are great friends of the soul of man. 

These forerunners of the better life are 
not uncertain messengers. Their "preparing 
the way of the Lord" is with as certain sound 
as was that of John the Baptist. Just as 
moles and bats flee from the incoming light, 

240 



JOY AND THE COMPLETE LIFE 

so the abnormal conditions of life betake 
themselves to their caves of darkness and ig- 
norance when the light of the incoming dawn 
of a better hope appears. The incoming of 
the missionary prepares the way for a new 
civilization. The messengers of joy open the 
way for the new life. 

Joy is quite aristocratic in its associations. 
While it cares not for wealth, fame, honor, or 
any other earthly glory, yet it does absolutely 
refuse to. be bound to the company of those 
whose hearts are not in tune with the eternal 
harmonious music of Gad's redeeming love 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The one bosom companion or concomitant 
of joy is the complete life. Each is eternally 
locked in the embrace of the other. Receiv- 
ing glory from the other, they in turn shed 
their glory upon the other. The glory of 
the one reveals the presence of the other. 

One must not for a moment think that joy 

requires a perfect body in which to abide, 

but it does unceasingly insist upon having 

as an abode a perfect manhood or woman- 

241 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

hood. It does not require a cultured mind 
through which it may operate, but it does 
insist upon there being a pure heart and an 
upright integrity as the base of its operations. 

Not long ago I was present when some 
surgeons were operating upon a man for a 
disturbance from which they hoped to have 
him soon relieved. From external conditions 
it seemed a rather simple process, through 
which the man would quite easily pass and 
soon be on the way to recovery. But as soon 
as the internal condition was discerned the 
chief surgeon said, "It is no use, these other 
conditions make it impossible for the man to 
recover." He was revived, and medicines 
provided for him. Health and strength were 
nott for him. Earth would know him only 
a few days more. The internal conditions 
were those of death, and the skill of the most 
competent surgeon could not make good tissue 
out of corruption. 

A corrupt tree can not bring forth good 
fruit, neither can a new piece of cloth be 
satisfactorily placed upon an old garment. 

242 



JOY AND THE COMPLETE LIFE 

Just so is it in regard to the bringing about 
a sound body. It must have a place of at- 
tachment somewhere. When this is lacking 
there can be no cure. This lacking, the whole 
body goes into decay. 

The same is true in the things pertaining 
to the spiritual life. There must be that 
good and undefiled life which knows neither 
guile nor iniquity. Joy being a spiritual 
quality, it falls in for those associations which 
are conducive to its own perpetuity. There 
is no force or characteristic in life but de- 
mands the companionship of its own kind. 
If it begets progeny it is because it is in union 
with its "own flesh and blood." The mar- 
riage relation is the most conspicuous illus- 
tration of this. Unless the man and woman 
become one there is no real marriage, and 
consequently no real family. 

It is not possible for that person whoi can 
have the good blessings of health and 
strength to have joy who by any corruptness 
whatsoever does not have the strongest mind 
in the most healthy body. If an individual 

243 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

barters away his body for a mess of pottage 
he must expect his soul to go into the bar- 
gain also. 

Simply the fact of having weakness either 
in body or mind does not preclude the in- 
dwelling of joy to the very fullest degree. 
But if the body or mind is weak it must be 
so from conditions over which the person has 
exercised no deteriorating effect. Keeping 
ourselves pure usually means building our- 
selves up in our physical life. There may be 
occasions, however, when the causes of feeble- 
ness lay far beyond the reach of the one af- 
fected. 

The pastor of a certain Church one day 
visited a home, where he found a woman 
whose body was more broken than any he 
had ever before seen. She was not even a 
member of the denomination to which he 
himself belonged, but he. found her full of 
the fruits of the Spirit and blessings of joy. 
While unable to move a single member of 
her body and had to remain all day long 
alone, yet she had her soul so full of those 

244 



JOY AND THE COMPLETE LIFE 

rich delights and sweet fruits that her heart 
was greatly comforted. 

Rheumatism had drawn her body and dis- 
torted her features, yet her soul was living 
such a joyous life that this man of God was 
inspired with the holiest benediction. He 
went from her side with the conscious satis- 
faction that he had that day seen one who 
was in touch with Him who is life and peace 
and joy. 

God always wants us to take our places in 
life where we will mean the most and where 
the strain on us is least. This does not war- 
rant our taking the easiest places in life. 
Often it is true that the hardest places are 
the ones in which we will develop our souls 
the most richly. 

We may well keep in mind that wher- 
ever we are from there our radiance must 
extend. The psalmist says, "Out of Zion the 
perfection of beauty God hath shined." He 
is shining through His people to-day as well 
as He did long ago. Every man is a chosen 
vessel of the Lord to carry some glad mes- 
245 



THE CULTURE PF JOY 

sage to the rest of mankind, and whether a 
man be a doorkeeper or a dweller in the 
house, his one concern should be to do his 
work better than any one else in the world 
can do it. 

Whatever attitude we take, we are com- 
pelled to recognize that God wants us to be 
perfect. Yet He does not withhold Himself 
when we are not perfect. If there is a striv- 
ing toward the mark u of the high calling of 
God in Christ Jesus," our many imperfections 
will be as though they were not. Our bless- 
ings will become numerous and our hearts full 
of richness when we set ourselves the task of, 
in faith in God and confidence in our own 
manhood, setting forth to do something worth 
doing, best executed, much needed. 

The forces of heaven reach to the help of 
the man who reaches his limit of strength and 
ability in a worthy cause. The forces even 
come to one in physical need. This may be 
seen in the case of a broken bone. If the 
qualities in the physical life permit the neces- 
sary building up, the material will be poured 

246 



JOY AND THE COMPLETE LIFE 

into that disturbed region until not only is 
the bone made as strong as it was before, but 
it will become stronger. 

The aim of earth and heaven is to give the 
fullest life and character in the lives of men 
and women. Jesus made this plain when He 
said, "I am come that ye might have life and 
that ye might have it more abundantly." 
There is never any stint on God's part in His 
bestowal upon us of His rich treasures. 

These blessings are not to be hoarded up 
as though they were for us alone. Man is 
not to live alone. He lives in groups. The 
community idea must be seriously considered, 
and he must let that life pass on in heart and 
song and work. As he does so his own life 
becomes more perfect and the glory round 
about him is fuller of sweetness. 

This may be seen from another point of 
view. It is said that there is joy in heaven 
over one sinner that repenteth. A sinner is 
in an incomplete state. A sinner saved by 
grace is at least looking forward to his more 
perfect condition, to the time when his life 
247 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

will more perfectly conform to the higher 
ideals, to the perfect model the Savior gave 
him. He is looking to the complete life. His 
face is set in the right direction even if his 
feet have not yet trodden near the perfect 
goal. Men grow into the things they stead- 
fastly look upon. 

We hear very much about the reversion of 
type. This is often but the returning to nor- 
mal conditions. Many things are "devel- 
oped" out of their natural state until they are 
not themselves any more, but something quite 
dissimilar. When the unnatural barriers are 
removed, many of the species will set about 
to right the inroads made upon their inner 
life. When a thing is left without a will, 
nature takes quite a hand in setting things 
right; when it has will, as in the case of man, 
that will must be used in order to gain a 
normal condition. Whatever be the limit of 
the development, that must be the limit 
reached before there can be the fullness 
of joy. 

Impurity is never an associate of joy. In 
248 



JOY AND THE COMPLETE LIFE 

fact they are the most bitter enemies. Joy is 
never in any heart until there is made room 
in that heart for all that is pure and all bars 
laid up against anything that is vile. The 
very conditions of vice and immorality pre- 
clude the presence of any of the exhilarating 
and satisfying qualities of the soul. And the 
life of joy on the slightest suspicion arouses 
itself to the antagonism of anything which 
defiles or makes weak. The pure in heart 
alone see God, His attributes, and His graces. 

Joy comes as a natural condition. Certain 
qualities are poured into the mill of life, and 
their necessary results are poured out. Life 
is not made up of an isolated number of 
units which have no relation to what has gone 
before or what comes after. Everything in 
this life comes as a result of past acts. We 
gather our harvest from what we have sown. 
If we sow to the flesh we shall of the flesh 
reap corruption; but if we sow to the spirit 
we shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. 

There needs be a reaping time in every life. 
It is as necessary as a sowing time. The 
249 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

sowing may be without thought of the reap- 
ing, but the reaping is from the sowing. This 
is true both as pertains to the quality and 
quantity of the harvest. u In the great fields 
of destiny we reap as we have sown." "He 
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing pre- 
cious seed, shall doubtless come again, with 
rejoicing, bearing his sheaves with him." 

That person whose acts are specially di- 
rected to the satisfying his own personal self- 
ish satisfaction in the lower self, could hardly 
expect the coming of the angels to sing sweet 
songs to him by day and lull him to sleep by 
night. When a man works for his own 
pleasure, profit, honor, and glory, he must 
be satisfied when none but the friends of these 
gather at his festal board. When a man 
marries a Mongolian woman he must not be 
surprised if Caucasian ladies do not throng 
his parlors. 

The Master asked a very searching ques- 
tion once, "Then whose shall these things be 
which thou hast provided?" "So is every 
one that layeth up treasure for himself and 

250 



JOY AND THE COMPLETE LIFE 

is not rich toward God." A check on the 
best bank in the land is worthless unless there 
has been made a deposit sufficient to cover 
the face designation. I may be entirely fa- 
miliar with the fact that — 

"My Father is rich in houses and lands, 
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands; 
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver. and gold, 
His coffers are full, He has riches untold, " 

and yet, if I am not fully conscious in my 
own heart that He is my Father, it does me 
but little good, I must have an inherent right 
to the riches of glory. I must be conscious 
that I am a child of God. And I must know 
that I have riches in the Bank of Heaven. 

Paul set the world a good copy in this. He 
said, "I know that if our earthly house of 
this tabernacle were destroyed, we have a 
building of God, an house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." The riches 
of that glorious Kingdom come to us in all 
profusion and glory. And when my own life 
corresponds to that One which called the an- 
gels down to announce His coming, then the 
251 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

soul is filled with the vital elements of Di- 
vinity. Then we can say with Paul, "I live; 
yet not I, but Christ." 

This is the normal condition of the spir- 
itual life, to which all should aspire to reach. 
Perfect in body, perfect in mind, perfect in 
spirit. Nothing short of that should satisfy 
our natures. Complete in Him, would be a 
fine way for us to view the whole matter. In 
Him is joy for evermore. 



252 



Joy and Service 



17 



JOY AND SERVICE 

One of the most efficient elements in the prep- 
aration for service is the life of joy. There 
is a psychological effect upon the mind by the 
joyous life which is always conducive to the 
greatest endeavor. It is at this time that the 
greatest work can be done at the minimum 
exertion. When the spirit is light the flesh is 
always willing. 

'That my joy might remain in you, and 
that your joy might be full," was the way 
Jesus left the matter of all our highest 
achievements. The Master was entirely con- 
scious that as long as there was a flood of joy 
pouring over and through the soul of man, 
even the lash of the meanest task-master 
would not seriously harm. So long as there 
is joy in the hearts of the disciples there are 
willing and efficient servants in the busy world 
and the Kingdom of Christ. 

In the world a fierce conflict is being 
waged. It has been going on from the first 
255 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

of the period of which history relates. There 
is a manly dignity to be maintained, a life 
to be formed as well as a living to be made. 
To be indifferent to either our work or our 
morals is one of the grossest evils of which 
man is subjected. Either one is of sufficient 
importance to call for our greatest efforts. 

The fight is just as hard and bitter as it 
was in the beginning of the historic period, if 
not more so. In the time of the apostles 
there was a continual struggle going on be- 
tween saint and sinner. There was also that 
inner conflict which is upon us to-day. Vice 
arrayed against virtue, and indifference 
against real strength of spirit. 

Unless the man has his life full of power, 
he will in most cases fail. He needs his soul 
well filled with spiritual life, which becomes 
to him his reservoir, from which he may sup- 
ply the great demands made upon him. 
There will come times when he will fall very 
low in his achievements, and unless he can 
make larger demands than any human soul 
possesses, he will surely fail. 

256 



JOY AND SERVICE 

When a man's life drops the lowest, that 
is the opportune time for the incoming of all 
kinds of evil forces. Evil is notoriously un- 
scrupulous and will attack a man when he is 
down with just as much delight as when he 
is well on his feet. Procrastination, which is 
the bane of all men, is also willing to take ad- 
vantage of a man's weakened condition. It 
is only when a man is fully equipped in every 
part of his life that he is really sure of him- 
self. This can not be until he has the full 
assurance of heart and in life coming through 
the glorious fountain of joy. 

Paul admonished with all his might that 
the disciples would show themselves worthy 
of their Christian profession. "With all 
good will doing service, as to the Lord." 
"Not with eye service, as men pleasers; but 
as the servants of Christ, doing the will of 
God from the heart." 

Like admonition needs be given to the fol- 
lowers of Christ to-day. The world is look- 
ing on at the running of the disciples and 
taking note of the difference between the 
257 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Christ-hid and those whose lives do not pro- 
fess any such glorious character. 

"And having done all, to stand." After 
every fight has been fought and every en- 
gagement finished, "Stand, therefore." This 
man in all the world is called upon to do, 
and yet none can do so unless he has the full 
joy of the Lord Jesus Christ as the control- 
ling force of his life. He must have the 
dynamic and power to force and withstand 
and build up in order to take his place in this 
present life as a man most w T orthy. Strength 
should be appreciated wherever found; but 
since there has been none who could stand in 
their own strength alone, it is reasonable to 
suppose that none can withstand without aid 
from the unseen Friend. 

A man can not withstand unless he is full 
of withstanding power. There must be in 
his life the full-grown character which en- 
ables him to plant himself squarely for every 
good cause and against every evil one. A 
man is only half a man who simply loves. 
He is complete only when he can hate as 

258 



JOY AND SERVICE 

strongly as he loves. The inherent principles 
of stability must be in their full strength. 
There is no place where this is so save in 
the life of joy. Joy alone furnishes the great 
fulcrum over which all vitiating influences 
may be thrown and all good ones carefully 
nurtured. It is the field in which all gracious 
characters may be grown. 

"Let me but do my work from day to day, 
In field or forest, at the desk or loom, 
In roaring market-place or tranquil room; 
Let me but find it in my heart to say, 
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray: 

'This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; 
Of all who live I am the only one by whom 
This work can best be done, in the right way/ 

"Then I shall see it not too great, nor small, 
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers; 
Then shall I cheerful greet the laboring hours, 
And cheerful turn when the long shadows fall 
At eventide, to play and love and rest, 
Because I know for me my life is best. ,, 
— Henry Van Dyke. 

When the threatening clouds gather and 
the thunders crash and roll, there is need of 
259 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

a sure refuge which is greater than these dis- 
turbing elements. This thought inspired the 
poet to say: 

"Where for refuge shall I fly- 
When the storm is raging nigh, 
When the lightnings flash and flare? 
Is there refuge anywhere?" 

After there has been established the firm 
base there is possibility, then, for every good 
word and work. Firm conviction that the 
character is established upon the good and 
true foundation of the everlasting God and 
His Son Jesus Christ gives one such an as- 
surance that he can not be moved from his 
position of vantage in doing a great and 
worthy service. Deriving strength from God 
through Christ insures joy. Joy insures every 
good work, and in the most satisfactory man- 
ner of execution. Thus action and reaction 
go on unto the accomplishment of every avail- 
able task. 

Trials and hardships are sure to come. 
But it makes a great difference in the meaning 
of these to us whether we are built upon the 

260 



JOY AND SERVICE 

rock or upon the sand. "On Christ the solid 
Rock I stand." "IF the priest be foul in 
whom we trust, what can we expect from 
the actions of others? And if we be not well 
grounded in a perfect hope, the whole life 
will go into decay." "We must stand the 
storms." 

"Then welcome each rebuff 
That turns earth's smoothness rough, 

Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand, but go! 
Be our joys three parts pain! 
Strive, and hold cheap the strain; 

Learn, nor account the pang ; dare, never grudge 
the throe." — Robert Browning. 

The possibility to work is one of the great- 
est blessings conferred upon man. To work 
in the spirit of drudgery is to besmear the 
character with pollution. To work in joy is 
sweet perfume in the nostrils and savory food 
in the mouth of the worker. 

When service is irksome, the one who en- 
gages in it soon finds his spirit giving way 
beneath his burden. It is only when work is 
done in the full spirit of the risen manhood 
that it becomes a delight and a profit. If the 
261 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

machinery is oiled by the free and exuberant 
spirit of a glorious joy the work becomes easy 
and the worker enriched in life. 

It is not the work a man does that so 
much influences his life, but the spirit in 
which he is able to do that work. Carlyle 
said: "The modern majesty consists in work. 
What a man can do is his great ornament, 
and he always consults his dignity in do- 
ing it." 

It takes spirit as well as brains and brawn 
to make work efficient. All the more does 
it take spirit to make the worker efficient. 
One man will do a work and become stronger 
in body and more perfect in spirit for doing it, 
while another will lose his spirit and do un- 
satisfactory work. One will develop in life 
and character while doing the same kind of 
work as another who will become sour and 
morose. 

It is not necessary that one finds his task 
harder than another that he does not become 
more fit for the glories of a fuller manhood. 
The one whose body is the weaker may be the 

262 



JOY AND SERVICE 

more able to do his tasks. It all grows out 
of the spirit one is able to put into his labor. 
Where there is neither spirit nor love, nothing 
but droll servitude is apparent. 

The principle involved in the matter of 
spirit in labor largely accounts for the contin- 
ual current from lower to higher circles or 
stratas of life. The higher the social stand- 
ing, the more inclined the person is to look 
upon labor with everything but a spirit of 
delight. This spirit is an absolute necessity 
to great achievement in any activity what- 
soever. We are all given to view work 
which is considered beneath us with not alone 
suspicion, but in abhorrence. When this 
spirit is apparent there will be neither mental 
nor spiritual development in the one who is 
working. 

It is no uncommon thing to see sons of 
poor families occupying homes their parents 
could not have thought of possessing. And 
likewise, sons of rich families living in houses 
which their sires would have shuddered at 
the thought of taking as homes. Few chil- 
263 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

dren occupy the mansions of their fathers. 
Few sons of the hovel remain in "their low 
estate." The worthy servants have always 
become the honored served. 

Thus it is the usual thing to see sons of 
poor families rising higher in society and 
business and occupying homes their parents 
could not have dared aspire to reach. The 
cause is not far to find. The teaching of 
Christianity gives it in simple language: 
" Whosoever will be great among you, let 
him be your minister; and whosoever will be 
chief among you, let him be your servant. 
Even as the Son of man came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister." 

Through servitude in the spirit of joy is 
the ladder on which we rise from the low 
things of time into the very presence of the 
Eternal. We rise on our dead selves to 
higher things. 

"I count it joy with him who sings, 
In one clear note of divers tones, 
That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things.'' 

264 



Joy and Peace 



JOY AND PEACE 

"Peace I leave with you, My peace 1 give 
unto you: not as the world giveth, give I 
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid." — Jesus. 

Such were the words of the Master to His 
disciples, and such is the word He gives us 
to-day. 

Peace He leaves with us, why? For the 
sake of the peace alone ? That we may have 
joy. These things Jesus told in another 
place that He gives peace in order that "My 
joy might remain in you." 

The very crown of the Christian life is 
the peace of Christ and its accompanying 
joy in our souls. Peace is what Christ gives 
us and joy is the response our hearts give to 
that peace of Christ. Peace is the dynamic 
and joy is the resultant of the full glory of 
the righteous life. 

These exhilarating words of Jesus are sup- 
ported by the expressed word of God coming 
267 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

from that great apostle, Saint Paul, u And 
the peace of God which passeth all under- 
standing shall guard your hearts and thoughts 
through Christ Jesus." Peace and joy shall 
keep and nourish and exhilarate the soul of 
man in all the beauties of life and glories of 
grace. 

Could there be anything better? — O, could 
anything be so good, as this matchless ex- 
pression backed up by all the forces and 
powers of the Holy Trinity? It makes the 
heart of man abound in the fullness of joy 
just to contemplate what it means; and to 
experience all that the expression contains 
is heaven indeed. 

Just to feel the sweet security of the peace 
of Christ is more than we can comprehend. 
We lose so much by not resigning our hearts 
into the care of the great Keeper of our souls. 
How much better it would be for our spirit- 
ual lives if we made a complete surrender 
to God in Christ Jesus. 

We will not let go ourselves. We hold 
on when we know it would be better to 

268 



JOY AND PEACE 

repose in safety. Waking is good, and there 
is no getting on without it, but there come 
times when we must give ourselves to sleep. 
Just so it is in the spiritual life. 

"O Love that will not let me go! 
I rest my weary soul in Thine; 
I give Thee back the life I owe, 
That in Thine ocean depths to flow 
May richer, fuller be. ,, 

When the peace of God through Jesus 
Christ guards the soul, it overflows with joy. 
That is the time when the joy of the Lord 
passes all understanding. O, peace! O, 
joy! "I rest my weary soul in Thee. 1 ' 
There comes up in our lives much of the 
unpleasant things of this life. Trials and 
vexations of every dimension arise and must 
have some kind of disposition. Happy, in- 
deed, is that man who has sufficient latent 
power to carry him over every one of these 
trying situations. 

When this whole matter was wished to 
be definitely settled by Paul, he gave this 
statement, 

18 269 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

4 'And the peace of God, which passeth all 
understanding, shall guard your hearts and 
your thoughts in Christ Jesus." — Phil. 4:7. 

We see in these few words the source of all 
true joy. That which comes from any other 
source than the "peace of God in Jesus 
Christ" is not genuine, but is either adulter- 
ated or counterfeit. The peace of God 
through the Lord Jesus Christ is the true and 
unfailing source of joy. 

We may have currents of happiness pass- 
ing through our spiritual system, which gives 
much semblance to joy; but these currents 
may have their sources in quite different 
centers than are representd by the life of 
joy. If these sources are not the true ones, 
you will find when you analyze their currents 
that they will produce no lasting effect; and 
hence neither will they build up the spirit- 
ual life. Untrue currents may puff up, true 
currents build up and edify. 

Peace being a spiritual health producer, 
it requires a fountain of absolute purity. Joy 
carries with it that which is above all other 

270 



JOY AND PEACE 

good things, and so must begin in no less 
source than the peace of God. If it is to 
produce animation, it must be itself animated 
by the true dynamic. 

When currents other than those filled with 
the peace of God pass through the soul of 
man, they simply tell us of that great rich 
mine of God which is so beneficial to man. 
Its benefits may be had in all abundance, con- 
forming to the requirements for its continual 
abiding. Would we abide in the Lord Jesus 
Christ all the time we could have this peace 
without interruption, and consequently the 
constant stream of joy being poured into our 
souls. 

The counterfeit currents of joy passing 
through our souls belie the great love of God : 
that while they are not worthy of the con- 
tinual abiding in hearts God-nourished, yet 
they will even exhilarate us for a season. 
This exhilaration may even stimulate us to 
a rather consistent life with Christ in God. 

It would not seem an impossible thing for 
God to do even more than He has done 
271 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

to get us into the way of the true life in 
Himself. He loved us so much as to give 
us u His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." Since God has done that 
much for sinners, He could do still more for 
saints by giving them a foretaste of glory 
divine. Even untrue sources may be used. 
Paul doubtless had this in mind when he 
spoke of some preaching Christ from envy, 
but Christ would be preached, and thus the 
enemies of the cross of Christ should be 
made to break the glad message to those who 
would not otherwise fall under the proclaim- 
ing of the gospel. However, it could hardly 
be expected that those who did so proclaim 
would receive great blessings when their mo- 
tives were so low. 

These intermittent and untrue currents of 
joy which sometimes course our lives, tell us 
what we could have did we but comply with 
the conditions of their continual and pur- 
poseful abiding. Everything has the price 
of its compliance. Joy has its price. That 

272 



JOY AND PEACE 

is, it comes as an aftermath of the peace of 
God if it has qualities of sufficient merit. 
Wherever the peace of God goes there will 
follow in quick accord the joy of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

If we would relinquish the hold we main- 
tain upon ourselves, commit our ways unto 
God, and have the Lord Jesus Christ as the 
constant dynamic of our hearts, we would 
all the time have the peace which passeth 
understanding. Christ alone is full of this 
life quality. It is of peculiar compound, 
much sought after, has so far eluded the 
analysis of the most skillful chemists, but may 
be had by the meek and lowly in heart and, 
as well as the great and strong, by the child 
as well as by the man. 

Men are anxious to be filled with the peace 
of the Holy Spirit. They, however, usually 
want the peace without performing that 
which brings peace. We might as well seek 
strength without compliance with the laws of 
strength as to seek peace without the con- 
ditions of peace being fulfilled. General 

273 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

Miles Standish sought the hand of the fair 
Priscilla Mullen, but he wished it without 
the experiences of courtship. He sent young 
John Alden to do his courting for him. 
John did his task so well that when he had 
done speaking for the General, Priscilla asked 
him, "Why do n't you speak for yourself, 
John?" And John did. 

So when we are seeking some great thing 
without the formalities and delights of its 
courtship, in all likelihood it will terminate 
just as did the wishes of General Miles. 
You remember how the scene closes, "The 
girl that is not worth the wooing is not 
w r orth the wedding." 

Paul makes use of some language which, 
if accepted, would inspire us with the great- 
est joy in a settled peace. "Stand fast in the 
Lord." If a man stands fast anywhere in 
the world it is in the Lord, for all know it 
is impossible elsewhere. 

"And the peace of God, which passeth all 
understanding, shall guard your hearts and 
your thoughts through Christ Jesus." "Guard 

274 



JOY AND PEACE 

hearts and thoughts." What a -wonderful 
protection ! u And my God shall supply 
every need of yours according to His riches 
in glory in Christ Jesus." 

In all these there is place for peace alone. 
The economic value of God is everything. 
When disturbing forces enter into the life 
there are no accummulations. It is only 
when the life is allowed undisturbed address 
to his own affairs that he makes the most 
rapid progress. 

The two greatest means for the lessening 
of joy in our hearts are the lack of efficiency 
and the indifference of our hearts to the 
things of the divine life. Both of these the 
peace of Jesus Christ supplies in the greatest 
abundance. Christian men actually do more 
and better work than do men of an indifferent 
character. And we know that Christ keeps 
us so close to the Father that we are all the 
time glad in heart. Christ is joy. He fills 
up in Himself what is lacking in us to the 
complete life. 

After you know exactly what a given thing 
275 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

is, the next thing to know is where it is. And 
perhaps the next important thing is to know 
where it is not. This is very important in 
looking for the joy of a settled peace. There 
are many places where this peace is never 
found. The joy of a settled peace is never 
found in the things of sense and time. As 
to this there has been none so competent to 
give the final word as King Solomon. Here 
is what he said, "I have seen all the works 
that are done under the sun; and behold, all 
is vanity and vexation of spirit." This is 
the common experience of every man who 
seeks joy in places where it never frequents. 
It is never to be found in the world. It 
does not even make occasional incursions 
there. The world is the place for pomp and 
power. Both joy and peace are not to be 
found where these are assembled. They are 
meek and lowly creatures, not at all inured to 
anything savoring of the bombastic. These 
things they hate. They go as far as pos- 
sible from them. The world has no more 
in common with them than has the equator 

276 



JOY AND PEACE 

to do with the poles. One is of the" flesh, and 
the other of the spirit. One is always con- 
ducive to the health of the spiritual life, while 
the other is quite often vitiating to the spir- 
itual life. 

The most the world allows us is pleasure, 
happiness, self-gratification. Many persons 
going in the way of the world- alone and find- 
ing nothing but u the husks that the swine did 
eat," imagine that there has been a decep- 
tion practiced upon them. Their grief is 
approximated only by their disappointment. 
A man might as well seek oranges in a corn- 
field as joy and peace among the rubbish of 
a sin-cursed world. 

When we think of the human beings who 
have had their vessels wrecked on the shores 
or amid the high-raging waves of the ma- 
terial things of life, it becomes pathetic. 
Many of these have been seemingly good 
persons, too. They were deluded, however, 
in thinking that their soul's content was to 
be found in the world. O ! that men might 
look for their highest satisfaction where it is 
277 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

to be found. Not only is it a waste of time 
to be searching for a thing where it is not, 
but it also weakens every member of the 
spiritual body. The finest frames become 
coarse, and the most genteel become brutish 
by attending to the common and the vulgar. 

Every page of the newspaper may be full 
of the accounts of men who have sought hap- 
piness in the world and failed; past failures 
in their own personal experiences may be 
fresh in their minds, yet people still go on 
and on searching after happiness in the things 
they know will soon pass away. 

There can be no peace of mind coming 
through the transitory and fleeting. They 
are like the "grass which the wind driveth 
away, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast 
into the oven." They are but a shadow of 
the real and the true. 

Joy is to be found in the things which 
abide. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth may 
pass away, but My words shall not pass 
away." Paul said, "And now abideth faith, 
hope, love." 

278 



JOY AND PEACE 

It should be our aim to 

"Make the face of heaven so fine 
That all the world will be in love with night, 
And pay no worship to the garish sun." 

The soul of the person who has the highest 
possibilities in him desires to be in the pres- 
ence of the Eternal. He feels that to be in 
touch with the true principle of life is a far 
preferable thing to be in league with all the 
forces of this world. "There 's not a joy 
the world can give like that it takes away," 
said Lord Byron. Surely he had a right to 
speak, for he had experienced as deep pangs 
of remorse as few are forced to partake. 
How much better it is to feel as did Cole- 
ridge: 

"A sense o'er all my soul impressed 
That I am weak, yet not unblessed, 
Since in me, round me, everywhere, 
Eternal strength and wisdom are." 

Peace is to be found in the same locality 
as is joy and love and all the other graces 
of the spiritual life. These are all links in 
279 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

the great chain of life, and where you find one 
you find the others very near. God has so 
welded the choice things of His realm to- 
gether that while a man might pass one by 
from sheer condition, yet he can not do so, 
for he has hold of one and by holding on to 
it is enabled to bring all the others to his 
assistance also. 

The provision God has made for the full 
development of our spiritual lives is enough 
to call out life-long praise to His holy name. 
The "Way" is so plain that a way-faring man, 
though a fool, shall not err in the Way. It 
is sufficient to say that "joy and peace are to 
be found in the Way." To every man pass- 
ing along the Way of life are all the choice 
viands of God's own choosing. 



280 



That Your Joy May Be Full 



THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL 

"For a moment on the soul 
Falls the rest that maketh whole, 
Falls the endless peace." 

u Joy descends gently upon us like the fall- 
ing dew, and does not patter down like a 
hailstorm. 91 

The very best thing which the cultured 
mind and Christ-enthused heart of John could 
conceive was that there might be the fullness 
of joy to those who were walking beside the 
Master. Had there been anything better in 
the Christian life than the fullness of joy he 
would have wished it, as he loved the dis- 
ciples dearly, and his life was absorbed in 
that of his Christ. 

But John himself was quoting the exact 

words of Jesus. The Master expressed this 

desire on at least two different occasions. He 

is still working that this glorious ideal may 

283 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

indeed be a conscious reality with all His 
disciples. 

That which concerned Jesus for His dis- 
ciples was joy. Joy unstinted, unmixed, full. 
Joy from God. Joy for His friends. 

This one all-engrossing thing on the mind 
and heart of John becomes all the more ap- 
preciated when we recall that he had just im- 
mediately before been considering, u Our fel- 
lowship is with the Father and with His Som 
Jesus Christ." 

When we take into account the greatness 
of the theme John had just been speaking 
about, the words forming the first sentence 
of this chapter fall from his lips as sweet 
morsels, indeed. If, on account of associa- 
tion with the great, any consideration is given, 
then these words call for the profoundest 
respect. 

When a man's religion warrants the Lord 
of Glory filling his heart full and overflow- 
ing with the joy of Himself, it is an unfail- 
ing blessing which is bestowed upon him. It 
bespeaks also that that man has progressed 

284 



THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL 

very far in the perfection of his Christian 
life. It is a word of appreciation of the 
Christ-followers as well as the desire that 
this life might be their position. When John 
had spoken this sentence the very last word 
had been uttered, so far as religious experi- 
ence was concerned. 

Using scientific terms, here is what John 
said: "Joy is an emotion. It springs up in 
the human heart as soon as the soul is in 
touch with God. It comes as the super- 
structure of the religious life, and develops 
its being after the primary functions of the 
Christian life have been well grounded." 

That joy is dependent upon other elements 
of the Christian life. Its enshrinement is 
in the very heart of love. It is one of the 
two ingredients of the Kingdom of Christ, 
sharing honors with peace. 

John would teach us that joy is to the re- 
ligious life what warmth is to the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms. When heat is 
withdrawn there can be no vegetation, and 
where joy is wanting there can be no glory 
19 285 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

of God. The soils may be fertile, the rains 
abundant, the seeds good, but lacking warmth 
there will be no harvest. Warmth made 
all these other conditions efficient. The ef- 
ficiency of joy is seen in the same manner. 

Coldness and indifference, in regard to the 
things of the religious life, condemn their 
possessor to the realm of darkness and de- 
spair. Great optimism of life and con- 
sciousness of an internal exhilaration are de- 
manded from all those who would glory win. 
And there is nothing which commends a man 
in Christ so favorably as the full glory and 
joy of salvation. The time is passed when 
the test of a religious life is in u speaking in 
meeting," though that is a good thing to do. 
It is now that we are to show the fruits of 
the joy of the Lord in our daily lives. 

Many men are not running over full of re- 
ligion from their own internal life, but when 
they see another man, whose soul is flooded 
with joy, they are compelled to recognize the 
great power of religion to save and sanctify. 

In other times the controversial side of 
286 



THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL 

religion was predominant. If a man could 
not be convinced in his mind of the truthful- 
ness of a certain doctrine, he was irretrievably 
lost. u 01d things are passing away and all 
things are becoming new." To-day religion 
is impressed on the heart by the one who has 
it as the real dynamic of his own life. We 
shall hope that the morrow will require that 
the religion of Christ be engraven on the 
heart instead of impressed. To sink into is 
better than to stamp. 

Can we not say with all certainty that when 
the last word has been said in Christ, there is 
no higher ground upon which utterance may 
be made? The soul that on Jesus doth lean 
for repose shall be left in undisturbed quiet 
and holy satisfaction. Christ is always with 
us and does surely communicate with us in 
all things. So when He commends to us the 
fullness of joy, we shall partake with as much 
freedom and abundance as He offers. 

In Christ is hid all the treasures of wisdom 
and knowledge: so that He is the ultimate 
authority in that range of things in which He 
287 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

speaks. And in so far as Christ dominates 
the thoughts and lives of His followers, they 
likewise become authority on the subjects 
upon which they speak. When His disciples 
turn aside from the place of prophet to that 
of engineer, there is no longer any reason for 
their infilling of wisdom by the Priest from 
on high. 

"The joy is knowing that though in the 
world, they are not of it, but are one with 
another, with the Father and the Son." O, 
the joy! O, the peace! 

The message of joy is the gospel of Christ. 
The great Joy-bringer is Jesus Christ, through 
the Holy Spirit. The message is that of 
salvation. The spirit is that of exuberance, 
and the splendor is that of glory itself. The 
dispensers are largely the disciples of Christ. 

The very web and woof of the Gospels is 
joy. "Rejoice alway, and again I say, Re- 
joice!" That is the basis on which the 
world lays claim to the happy life. 

There is not a sad note in all the gospel of 
Christ. The word itself means "glad tid- 

288 



THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL 

ings." The angels sang, "Behold I bring 
you glad tidings of great joy which shall be 
to all people." This is what makes people 
tremble with holy reverence and respond with 
hearty admiration for Him whose birth was 
so lowly, but whose power is so great. 

" Jesus — Oh, how sweet- the name! 
Jesus, every day the same; 
Jesus, let all saints proclaim 
The worthy name of Jesus." 

"To know that the eternal life has been 
manifested, that we have communion with 
Him and through Him to the Father, must 
be joy." Thus we see the great joy coming 
to one through the atonement of Christ. 
Jesus paid the debt we owe by His death on 
the cross. There has been the divine satis- 
faction, and the compassionate heart of God 
turns to our salvation. Our hearts respond 
in happy gratitude, and our joy becomes full. 

The first act of heaven on the coming of 
Jesus was to herald the angels with their mes- 
sage of joy. And the very last act of Jesus, 

289 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

before passing to the cross, was to fill the 
disciples with joy, and Jesus told His disciples 
that He had meat to eat of which they did 
not know: that is, He had fountains of joy 
pouring constant streams into His heart. 
The motive which prompted God to send His 
Son was, u That they might have life." And 
is not the life of God in the human soul in 
the fullest sense joy? 

In the portraying of Jesus filling His dis- 
ciples with joy, we get the most dramatic 
scene in all the Scriptures, save that of Jesus 
Himself upon the cross crying, "Eloi, Eloi, 
lama sabacthani." Although the deepest 
gloom overshadowed Jesus at that time, yet 
He goes out in compassion to His friends and 
fills their souls with the joy of Himself. 

While there was a mark, in fact a stain 
upon the Master, He was determined that 
there should be none upon His disciples. 
One of the finest traits of character of all the 
great range of life is not to let the cares of 
our own life trail upon the path of others. 
This little stanza ought to be helpful in de- 

290 



THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL 

ciding that others have troubles enough of 
their own without helping entertain our whims 
as well as our troubles. 

"My neighbor met me on the street; 
She dropped a word of greeting gay; 
Her look so bright, her tone so sweet, 
I stepped to music all that day." 

A sure adjunct to life's forces in the pur- 
suit of successful endeavor is to get our souls 
full of joy. And one of the best means to 
secure more joy is to put all the sunshine we 
have into the lives of others. 

The one who is full of sunshine already 
has an even greater abundance coming from 
those with whom he comes into daily touch. 
The law of the conservation of spiritual 
forces is a demanded one here.- — "From him 
that hath not shall be taken that which he 
hath and given to him that hath abundance." 
This is just the reason we should always do 
those acts which put us into the swing of 
forces producing effects conducive to the 
highest efficiency in the culture of joy. 

The man into whose life little sunshine 
291 



THE CULTURE OF JOY 

falls has usually himself alone to blame. It 
takes the turning of a very small key to set 
in motion the largest dynamo, and a small act 
will set in motion a beautiful halo of joy if 
the proper rays are thrown upon it. 

During the Hudson-Fulton celebration in 
New York there was the skeleton of the Cler- 
mont, from which issued steam. There was 
nothing particular to these emissions of steam 
until the great searchlights were thrown upon 
them when they would be transformed into 
the most beautiful portrayal rarely ever seen. 
These would fill with delightful feelings the 
thousands of people gathered to witness the 
spectacle. 

A recent writer has said, "Had they (the 
disciples) gone about Jerusalem with a cloud 
on their faces, a whine in their voices, and a 
note of hesitancy in their speech, their Mas- 
ter's cause would have perished in its birth." 
But they knew that Jesus wanted them to be 
dynamic in their lives; and they knew that 
the only way to be so was to be filled with 
the joy of their salvation. Even plants 

292 



THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL 

thrive best when placed in windows toward 
the sun. 

The secret for the full culture of joy is now 
made plain. It comes through processes 
quite natural and now quite distinct. It may 
be given in the one sentence of Paul, "But 
we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass, 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory by the Spirit 
of the Lord." 



293 



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